 | |
  Temple of Trajan Shown in ancient Rome | |
 Click on the map for a fullscreen view | |
| Coordinates | 41°53′44″N12°29′09″E / 41.8956°N 12.4858°E |
|---|---|
The Temple of Trajan was a Roman temple dedicated to the emperor Trajan and his wife Plotina after his deification by the Roman Senate. It was built in the Forum of Trajan (Rome), by Trajan's adoptive son and successor Hadrian, between 125 A.D. and 138 A.D. The architect was Apollodorus of Damascus.
Its exact site within the Forum is unknown. It had been assumed it was on the site of Palazzo Valentini and that this palazzo had reused stone from the temple in its construction, but excavation has found no trace of a temple, only remains of insulae with shallower foundations than those needed for a temple. This possibly puts the temple at the centre of the forum courtyard, looking towards the forum of Augustus or elsewhere (some have suggested the two rooms in the Library, without evidence) and not in a northern position as was previously assumed.
The temple's dedicatory inscription survives in the Vatican Museums. An enormous monolithic granite column (2m in diameter) with a white marble capital (2.12m high on its own) survives near Trajan's Column and perhaps comes from the temple. Among Hadrian's many buildings, it was only this one to which he wished to affix his name. The temple was probably enormous in dimensions and surrounded by a portico like the temple of Hadrian. However, Trajan was not buried in the temple but in the triumphal column's base.
The temple was destroyed in the Middle Ages.
Trajan was Roman emperor from 98 to 117 AD, the second of the Five Good Emperors of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. He was a philanthropic ruler and a successful soldier-emperor, who led the Roman Empire to its greatest territorial extent by the time of his death. He was given the title of optimus by the Roman Senate.
The 110s was a decade that ran from January 1, AD 110, to December 31, AD 119.
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 center 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.
The Pantheon is a former Roman temple and, since AD 609, a Catholic church in Rome, Italy. It was built on the site of an earlier temple commissioned by Marcus Agrippa during the reign of Augustus, then after that burnt down, the present building was ordered by the emperor Hadrian and probably dedicated c. AD 126. Its date of construction is uncertain, because Hadrian chose not to inscribe the new temple but rather to retain the inscription of Agrippa's older temple.
A serapeum is a temple or other religious institution dedicated to the syncretic Greco-Egyptian deity Serapis, who combined aspects of Osiris and Apis in a humanized form that was accepted by the Ptolemaic Greeks of Alexandria. There were several such religious centers, each of which was called a serapeion/serapeum or poserapi, coming from an Egyptian name for the temple of Osiris-Apis.
Apollodorus of Damascus was a Damascus-born Greek architect and engineer from Roman Syria, who flourished during the 2nd century AD. As an engineer he authored several technical treatises, and his massive architectural output gained him immense popularity during his time. He is one of the few architects whose name survives from antiquity, and is credited with introducing several Eastern innovations to the Roman Imperial style, such as making the dome a standard.
Italica was an ancient Roman city in Hispania; its site is close to the town of Santiponce in the province of Seville, Spain. It was founded in 206 BC by Roman general Scipio as a colonia for his Italic veterans and named after them. Italica later grew attracting new migrants from the Italian peninsula and also with the children of Roman soldiers and native women. Among the Italic settlers were a branch of the Gens Ulpia from the Umbrian city of Tuder and a branch of the gens Aelia from the city of Hadria, either co-founders of the town or later migrants who arrived at an unknown time; they were the respective stirpes of the Roman emperors Trajan and Hadrian, both born in Italica.
Hadrian's Villa is a UNESCO World Heritage Site comprising the ruins and archaeological remains of a large villa complex built around AD 120 by Roman Emperor Hadrian near Tivoli outside Rome.
The Temple of Vesta, or the aedes, is an ancient edifice in Rome, Italy. It is located in the Roman Forum near the Regia and the House of the Vestal Virgins. The Temple of Vesta housed Vesta's holy fire, which was a symbol of Rome's safety and prosperity. The temple has a circular footprint, making it a tholos.
Trajan's Forum was the last of the Imperial fora to be constructed in ancient Rome. The architect Apollodorus of Damascus oversaw its construction.
Piazza Venezia is a central hub of Rome, Italy, in which several thoroughfares intersect, including the Via dei Fori Imperiali and the Via del Corso. It takes its name from the Palazzo Venezia, built by the Venetian Cardinal, Pietro Barbo alongside the church of Saint Mark, the patron saint of Venice. The Palazzo Venezia served as the embassy of the Republic of Venice in Rome.
The Column of Marcus Aurelius is a Roman victory column in Piazza Colonna, Rome, Italy. It is a Doric column featuring a spiral relief: it was built in honour of Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius and modeled on Trajan's Column.
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.
The Temple of Hadrian is an ancient Roman structure on the Campus Martius in Rome, Italy, dedicated to the deified emperor Hadrian by his adoptive son and successor Antoninus Pius in 145 CE This temple was previously known as the Basilica of Neptune but has since been properly attributed as the Temple of Hadrian completed under Antoninus Pius. With one cella wall and eleven columns from the external colonnade surviving, the remains of the temple have been incorporated into a later building in the Piazza di Pietra, whereby its facade, alongside the architrave which was reconstructed later on, was incorporated into a 17th-century papal palace by Carlo Fontana, now occupied by Rome's Chamber of commerce. While only part of the structure remains, excavations and scholarship have provided us with information regarding its construction techniques and stylistic influences, helping us recreate the building dynamics and significance of the Temple of Hadrian in Imperial Rome.
Giacomo Boni was an Italian archaeologist specializing in Roman architecture. He is most famous for his work in the Roman Forum.
Palazzo Valentini is a palazzo in central Rome, Italy, not far from Piazza Venezia. Since 1873 it has been the base of the provincial and prefectural administration of Rome.
Forum of Nerva is an ancient structure in Rome, Italy, chronologically the next to the last of the Imperial fora built.
The Domus Transitoria was Roman emperor Nero's first palace damaged or destroyed by the Great Fire of Rome in 64 AD, and then extended by his Domus Aurea.
The Arch of Portugal was an arch of Rome, situated on the ancient via Lata, just before its intersection with the via della Vite.