The Tropaeum Traiani or Trajan's Trophy lies 1.4 km northeast of the Roman city of Civitas Tropaensium (near the modern Adamclisi, Romania). It was built in AD 109 in then Moesia Inferior, to commemorate Roman Emperor Trajan's victory over the Dacians in 106, including the victory at the Battle of Adamclisi nearby in 102. [1]
It was part of a monumental complex comprising the trophy monument, the tumulus grave behind it and the commemorative altar, raised in 102 AD for soldiers fallen in the battles of this region. The complex forms a triangular plan, the base being marked by the monument and the funerary tumulus while the upper point is the altar.
The trophy monument was built, according to the inscription, between 106 and 109 AD probably by Apollodorus of Damascus, Trajan's favoured architect and engineer. It was inspired by the Augustus mausoleum, and was dedicated to Mars Ultor. It is a cylindrical building, with steps at the base, of diameter 40 m. Around the side were 54 metopes, showing Romans fighting Decebalus's allies, of which 48 are in the local museum and 1 is in Istanbul. The reliefs were framed by friezes and separated by decorative pilasters. The upper part was festooned with 27 battlements, each one showing prisoners. The cone-shaped roof was made of stone slabs and the trophy itself was placed on top of two superposed prisms, framed by two sitting women and a standing man with his hands held behind.
The monument was perhaps a warning to the tribes outside this newly conquered province. [2]
Compared to Trajan's Column in Rome, erected to celebrate the same victories and a "product of Roman metropolitan art", the sculpted metopes have been described as in "barbarian provincial taste", carved by "sculptors of provincial training, reveal[ing] a lack of experience in figurative representation, in organic structure and a naive idiom that remains detached from the classical current". [3]
By the 20th century, the monument was reduced to a mound of stone and mortar, with a large number of the original bas-reliefs scattered around. The present edifice is a reconstruction dating from 1977. The nearby museum contains many archaeological objects, including parts of the original Roman monument.
The monument was dedicated with a large inscription to Mars Ultor (the avenger). The inscription has been preserved fragmentarily from two sides of the trophy hexagon, and has been reconstructed as follows:
MARTI ULTOR[I]
IM[P(erator)CAES]AR DIVI
NERVA[E] F(ILIUS) N[E]RVA
TRA]IANUS [AUG(USTUS) GERM(ANICUS)]
DAC]I[CU]S PONT(IFEX) MAX(IMUS)
TRIB(UNICIA) POTEST(ATE) XIII
IMP(ERATOR) VI CO(N)S(UL) V P(ater) P(atriae)
?VICTO EXERC]ITU D[ACORUM]
?---- ET SARMATA]RUM----]E 31. [4]
The inscription, which calls Trajan Germanicus from his previous victories in Germany and Dacicus for his new conquest of Dacia, can be translated:
To Mars Ultor,
Caesar the emperor, son of the divine Nerva,
Nerva Trajan Augustus, Germanicus,
Dacicus, Pontifex Maximus ,
Plebeian tribune for the 13th time,
[proclaimed] Emperor [by the army] for the 6th time,
Consul for the 5th time, Father of the Fatherland,
Conquered the Dacian and Sarmatian armies ...
The altar was raised in 102 to honour the soldiers who died "fighting for the Republic" perhaps at the Battle of Adamclisi nearby in the winter of 101–102. The altar had a rectangular shape, 12 m long and 6 m high. In the vicinity fragments of 1.3 x 0.9 m slabs covered with inscriptions were discovered with a dedication, but the name of the emperor was not preserved the names of about 4,000 soldiers were written on it. [5]
Several hypotheses for the soldiers and general commemorated have been put forward, including the soldiers of Oppius Sabinus, defeated somewhere nearby. [6] The mention of the cohort II Batavorum and probably of the Legio XV Apollinaris, as well as the formula missici (instead of veterans) usual for the first century BC indicates that the war must be dated to the era of Domitian and probably in the year 86, the campaign led by M. Cornelius Nigrinus. [7]
The tumulus grave was also built in 102 shortly after the altar and contained the grave of a Roman officer killed in the battle in Adamclisi, possibly Oppius Sabinus.
In 1837, four Prussian officers, hired by the Ottoman Empire to study the Dobruja strategic situation, performed the first excavations. [8]
The monument was researched between 1882–1895, [9] George Murnu in 1909, Vasile Parvan in 1911, Paul Nicorescu studied the site between 1935–1945, Gheorghe Stefan and Ioan Barnea in 1945. From 1968 the site was researched under Romanian Academy supervision.
On the monument was a frieze comprising 54 metopes. 48 metopes are hosted in the Adamclisi museum nearby, and one metope is hosted by Istanbul Archaeology Museum, the rest having been lost (There is a reference from Giurescu that two of them fell into the Danube during the transport to Bucharest). [10]
The lorica segmentata, also called lorica lamminata, or banded armour is a type of personal armour that was used by soldiers of the Roman army, consisting of metal strips fashioned into circular bands, fastened to internal leather straps.
Trajan was a Roman emperor from AD 98 to 117, 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.
Year 101 (CI) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Traianus and Paetus. The denomination 101 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.
Decebalus, sometimes referred to as Diurpaneus, was the last Dacian king. He is famous for fighting three wars, with varying success, against the Roman Empire under two emperors. After raiding south across the Danube, he defeated a Roman invasion in the reign of Domitian, securing a period of independence during which Decebalus consolidated his rule.
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.
The falx was a weapon with a curved blade that was sharp on the inside edge used by the Thracians and Dacians. The name was later applied to a siege hook used by the Romans.
Adamclisi is a commune in Constanța County, in the Dobrogea region of Romania.
A manica or cheires by the Greeks was a type of iron or bronze arm guard, with curved and overlapping metal segments or plates, fastened to leather straps, worn by Roman gladiators called crupellarii, and later optionally by soldiers.
A tropaion, from which the English word "trophy" is derived, was a monument erected to commemorate a victory over one's foes by the ancient Greeks and later, by the Romans. The armour of the defeated foe would be hung upon the monument. Originally, the location of the monument was the battlefield where the commemorated victory took place. Initially, the typical monument was constructed out of a living tree with lateral branches, or it was constructed in the shape of one. After construction, the tropaion was dedicated to a deity in thanksgiving for the victory. Some images of tropaion show many weapons and shields heaped below the armor hoisted upon the monument. In later times, pairs of lances, banners, or stakes set crosswise might be used instead of the tree format.
Lucius Licinius Sura was an influential Roman Senator from Tarraco, Hispania, a close friend of the Emperor Trajan and three times consul, in a period when three consulates were very rare for non-members of the Imperial family. The dates of two of these consulates are certain: in 102 and 107 AD he was consul ordinarius; the date of his first consulate, as a suffect consul has been debated. Fausto Zevi postulated that he was also suffect consul in 97, based on a plausible restoration of part of the Fasti Ostienses, which reads "..]us". However, two more recently recovered fragments of military diplomas show that the name of this consul is L. Pomponius Maternus, who is otherwise unknown. Most authorities have returned to endorsing C.P. Jones' surmise that Sura was consul for the first time in the year 93. He was a correspondent of Pliny the Younger.
Porolissum was an ancient Roman city in Dacia. Established as a military fort in 106 during Trajan's Dacian Wars, the city quickly grew through trade with the native Dacians and became the capital of the province Dacia Porolissensis in 124. It is one of the largest and best-preserved archaeological sites in modern-day Romania from the Roman Era. It is 8 km away from the modern city of Zalău, in Moigrad-Porolissum village, Mirsid Commune, Sălaj County.
The Battle of Adamclisi was a major clash during the Dacian Wars, fought in the winter of 101 to 102 between the Roman Empire and the Dacians near Adamclisi, in modern Romania.
Trajan's First Dacian War took place from 101 to 102.
Trajan's Second Dacian War was fought between 105 and 106 because the Dacian king, Decebalus, had broken his peace terms with the Roman Emperor Trajan from the Trajan's First Dacian War.
Civitas Tropaensium or Tropaeum Traiani was a Roman city situated in the Roman province of Moesia near modern Adamclisi in Constanța County, Romania. It was named after Trajan's Trophy built nearby.
Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa was the capital and the largest city of Roman Dacia, named after Sarmizegetusa the former Dacian capital, located some 30 km away. The present village of Sarmizegetusa has been built over parts of it.
A tabula ansata or tabella ansata is a tablet with dovetail handles. It was a favorite form for votive tablets in Imperial Rome.
Milliarium of Aiton is an ancient Roman milliarium (milestone) discovered in the 1758 in Aiton commune, near Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Dating from 108 AD, shortly after the Roman conquest of Dacia, the milestone shows the construction of the road from Potaissa to Napoca, by demand of the Emperor Trajan. It indicates the distance of ten thousand feet (P.M.X.) to Potaissa. This is the first epigraphical attestation of the settlements of Potaissa and Napoca in Roman Dacia.
Decimus Terentius Scaurianus was a Roman senator and general active in the late 1st and early 2nd centuries AD. He was suffect consul in either the year 102 or 104. He worked his way up through increasingly responsible positions. He commanded a legion from 96 to 98 and again during the Second Dacian War. After the war he was military governor of the newly conquered province from 106 to 111. He is known to have been decorated for his military service.
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.
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