Plutei of Trajan

Last updated
A relief from the Plutei Trajan Wnetrze Kurii Forum Romanum.jpg
A relief from the Plutei Trajan

The Plutei of Trajan (Latin Plutei Traiani; often called the Anaglypha Traiani) are carved stone balustrades built for the Roman emperor Trajan. They are on display inside the Curia Julia in the Roman Forum today, but are not part of the original structure.

Contents

It is unknown exactly where Trajan erected them. They are believed to have been built either on the edge of the Rostra or on the sides of the Lapis Niger marking the underground "Tomb of Romulus". In spite of this uncertainty, they are of great historical value because the carvings show the full length of both sides of the Forum at the time they were erected.

Description

Foreground carvings

The relief on the right side shows Trajan in the Forum Romanum, where he institutes a charitable organisation for orphans (known as the alimenta ). Trajan is seated on a podium in the middle of the Forum, together with a personification of Italia carrying a child on her arm.

The left relief shows the destruction of tax records in the presence of the emperor, probably Hadrian in 118, to the tune of 900 million sesterces. The wooden tablets with the tax records are carried forth and burned in the presence of the emperor, who is standing in front of the Rostra. The practice of "fiscal pardon" had been carried out previously under Trajan following his victory in the First Dacian War in 102.

Background carvings

The backgrounds of both the right and left sides depict buildings on the Forum Romanum.

On the right relief, depicted left to right, the buildings are: The Ficus Ruminalis and the statue of Marsyas; the Basilica Julia; the Temple of Saturn; the Temple of Vespasian and Titus; and the Rostra (only one of which is visible). A part of the relief is missing, where the Temple of Concord should have been.

On the left, again from left to right: the speakers' platform in front of the Temple of Divus Julius; the Arch of Augustus; the Temple of Castor and Pollux; the Vicus Tuscus; the Basilica Julia; the Ficus Ruminalis and the statue of Marsyas.

Further Readings

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Basilica</span> Type of building in classical and church architecture

In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica was a large public building with multiple functions that was typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its name to the basilica architectural form.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roman Forum</span> Ancient Roman centre of Rome, Italy

The Roman Forum, also known by its Latin name Forum Romanum, is a rectangular forum (plaza) surrounded by the ruins of several important ancient government buildings at the centre of the city of Rome. Citizens of the ancient city referred to this space, originally a marketplace, as the Forum Magnum, or simply the Forum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trajan's Column</span> Ancient Roman victory column, a landmark of Rome, Italy

Trajan's Column is a Roman triumphal column in Rome, Italy, that commemorates Roman emperor Trajan's victory in the Dacian Wars. It was probably constructed under the supervision of the architect Apollodorus of Damascus at the order of the Roman Senate. It is located in Trajan's Forum, north of the Roman Forum. Completed in AD 113, the freestanding column is most famous for its spiral bas relief, which depicts the wars between the Romans and Dacians. Its design has inspired numerous victory columns, both ancient and modern.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rostra</span> Ancient Roman platform for speakers

The Rostra was a large platform built in the city of Rome that stood during the republican and imperial periods. Speakers would stand on the rostra and face the north side of the Comitium towards the senate house and deliver orations to those assembled in between. It is often referred to as a suggestus or tribunal, the first form of which dates back to the Roman Kingdom, the Vulcanal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arch of Constantine</span> Ancient Roman triumphal arch, a landmark of Rome, Italy

The Arch of Constantine is a triumphal arch in Rome dedicated to the emperor Constantine the Great. The arch was commissioned by the Roman Senate to commemorate Constantine's victory over Maxentius at the Battle of Milvian Bridge in AD 312. Situated between the Colosseum and the Palatine Hill, the arch spans the Via Triumphalis, the route taken by victorious military leaders when they entered the city in a triumphal procession. Dedicated in 315, it is the largest Roman triumphal arch, with overall dimensions of 21 m (69 ft) high, 25.9 m (85 ft) wide and 7.4 m (24 ft) deep. It has three bays, the central one being 11.5 m (38 ft) high and 6.5 m (21 ft) wide and the laterals 7.4 m (24 ft) by 3.4 m (11 ft) each. The arch is constructed of brick-faced concrete covered in marble.

<i>Ficus Ruminalis</i>

The Ficus Ruminalis was a wild fig tree that had religious and mythological significance in ancient Rome. It stood near the small cave known as the Lupercal at the foot of the Palatine Hill and was the spot where according to tradition the floating makeshift cradle of Romulus and Remus landed on the banks of the Tiber. There they were nurtured by the she-wolf and discovered by Faustulus. The tree was sacred to Rumina, one of the birth and childhood deities, who protected breastfeeding in humans and animals. St. Augustine mentions a Jupiter Ruminus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Temple of Caesar</span> Building in Roman Forum, Italy

The Temple of Caesar or Temple of Divus Iulius, also known as Temple of the Deified Julius Caesar, delubrum, heroon or Temple of the Comet Star, is an ancient structure in the Roman Forum of Rome, Italy, located near the Regia and the Temple of Vesta.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Imperial fora</span> Series of monumental squares in Rome

The Imperial Fora are a series of monumental fora, constructed in Rome over a period of one and a half centuries, between 46 BC and 113 AD. The fora were the center of the Roman Republic and of the Roman Empire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trajan's Forum</span> Ancient Roman imperial forum, a landmark of Rome, Italy

Trajan's Forum was the last of the Imperial fora to be constructed in ancient Rome. The architect Apollodorus of Damascus oversaw its construction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Temple of Venus and Roma</span> Largest temple in Ancient Rome, 121 AD

The Temple of Venus and Roma is thought to have been the largest temple in Ancient Rome. Located on the Velian Hill, between the eastern edge of the Forum Romanum and the Colosseum, in Rome, it was dedicated to the goddesses Venus Felix and Roma Aeterna.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Forum of Caesar</span> Ancient Roman imperial forum, a landmark of Rome, Italy

The Forum of Caesar, also known by the Latin Forum Iulium or Forum Julium, Forum Caesaris, was a forum built by Julius Caesar near the Forum Romanum in Rome in 46 BC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Temple of Mars Ultor</span>

The Temple of Mars Ultor was a sanctuary erected in Ancient Rome by the Roman Emperor Augustus in 2 BCE and dedicated to the god Mars in his guise as avenger. The centerpiece of the Forum of Augustus, it was a peripteral style temple, on the front and sides, but not the rear, raised on a platform and lined with eight columns in the Corinthian order style.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Basilica Ulpia</span> Ancient building in the Forum of Trajan

The Basilica Ulpia was an ancient Roman civic building located in the Forum of Trajan. The Basilica Ulpia separates the temple from the main courtyard in the Forum of Trajan with the Trajan's Column to the northwest. It was named after Roman emperor Trajan whose full name was Marcus Ulpius Traianus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Comitium</span> Original open-air public meeting space of Ancient Rome

The Comitium was the original open-air public meeting space of Ancient Rome, and had major religious and prophetic significance. The name comes from the Latin word for "assembly". The Comitium location at the northwest corner of the Roman Forum was later lost in the city's growth and development, but was rediscovered and excavated by archaeologists at the turn of the twentieth century. Some of Rome's earliest monuments; including the speaking platform known as the Rostra, the Columna Maenia, the Graecostasis and the Tabula Valeria were part of or associated with the Comitium.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Forum of Theodosius</span> Roman forum and triumphal column in Constantinople (Istanbul, Turkey)

The Forum of Theodosius was probably the largest square in Constantinople and stood on the Mese, the major road that ran west from Hagia Sophia. It was originally built by Constantine I, probably on the site of a pre-existing Hellenistic agora called the Strategion, and named the Forum Tauri. In 393, however, it was renamed after Emperor Theodosius I, who rebuilt it after the model of Trajan's Forum in Rome, surrounded by civic buildings such as churches and baths and decorated with a triumphal column at its centre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Five-Columns Monument</span>

The Five-Columns monument is a dedicatory addition to the Rostra in the Roman Forum dating to the early fourth century CE. This monument was part of the Tetrarchy's expansion of the Forum and is connected to the tenth anniversary of the Caesares within the four-ruler system. It is also referred to as the Fünfsäulendenkmal as well as the four-column monument, depending on Jupiter's inclusion.

Trajanic art is the artistic production of the Roman Empire during the reign of Emperor Trajan from 98 to 117. In this period, Roman art further developed the innovations of the Flavian era, coming to definitively detach itself from Hellenistic influence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Regio VIII Forum Romanum</span> Historical region of Rome

The Regio VIII Forum Romanum Magnum is the eighth regio of imperial Rome, under Augustus's administrative reform. Regio VIII took its name from the Roman Forum, the political centre of Ancient Rome.

References

41°53′33″N12°29′05″E / 41.8926°N 12.4846°E / 41.8926; 12.4846