Trajan's Column ｜ Ancient Rome and the Art of Empirical Domination

The Column of Trajan in Rome, built from 107 A.D. to 113 A.D., portrays critical events exhibiting the power held within art to document historical accounts, construct a cultural narrative, and confirm authority. The artistry of the column is amongst the best-preserved public works of art from the ancient world. The column, at 98 feet tall, made of polished luna marble, marks the height of the hill that was excavated to construct the forum in which the Column of Trajan is situated. The hill's excavation and commemorating of this and the column's height portray Roman mastery over nature itself. The column consists of 19 individual drums, each 11 foot in diameter, stacked atop one another. It is wrapped with nearly 625 feet of model friezes. The bottom half of the column offers a visual history of Trajan's first victory in Dacia, while the top half documents his second victory over Dacia. In all, there are 2,662 relief figures carved in scenes of river crossings, warfare, and construction rendered from multiple perspectives that depict Trajan in hieratic scale and Romans dominating the Dacians in both battle and architecture. The Dacians are consistently rendered with shaggy beards, long hair, and disorganized, while the Romans are well-groomed and organized. The visual difference in architecture is perhaps most telling of the empirical propaganda, as Roman buildings and forts within the frieze depict solid, well-built structures. However, those of the Dacians are weak and ramshackle. These contrasts represent Roman propaganda constructing a cultural narrative of civilization triumphing over the barbarian outsider. In nearly 2,000 years, the column has only lost its original paint and a gilded sculpture of Trajan that looked out over the empirical grandeur of his forum, constructed with the material wealth looted from Dacia. However, the visual references of this sculpture are preserved in a series of gold coins, explicitly minted to commemorate the grandeur of the column and Roman authority. These coins were yet another component of this public work of art, expanding the historical reach of Trajan's conquest far beyond the horizon seen from 120 feet above the base atop the column's ancient viewing platform. In this, we can see the column of Trajan as a visually centralizing component of a multifaceted structure broadcasting the hegemonic power of an empire through the currents of antiquity. The Romans' mastery and appropriation of the arts were equally central to expanding the borders and maintaining its rule, as was the might of its military. Utilizing the technology of the day, Rome penetrated deep into barbaric territories, converting former foes into contributing members of what Rome defined as civilization. The broadcasting currents were as varied as the art forms, whose advancement was due in no small part to utilizing new conquered territories' material and human resources to further the ever-growing empire that reached its height under Trajan. Common narrative's successful communication depends on the art, artisans, and technological means available to disseminate a unifying history through a pluralistic society. While the Roman Empire's conquest often started in violence, its hegemonic grasp on power was sustained through its art. Likewise, militaries for millennia have imposed their will on others, yet a sustainable rule over newly conquered territories appears to be dependent on the conqueror's ability to transform the identity of the conquered into a contributing member of the conqueror's ongoing conquest. The alchemy capable of performing such a transformation over numerous generations is called art.