Trajan's Forum
The Trajan's Forum (Latin: Forum Traiani ) in Rome is the last, largest and most magnificent of the so-called Imperial forums . It is also the forum in Rome that is best preserved today. On the orders of Emperor Trajan , the construction and design of the Trajan's Forum began under the direction of the renowned architect Apollodor of Damascus in AD 107. The entire complex was finally inaugurated in AD 143. In a central location in Rome, there was no space for such a magnificent forum as Trajan imagined. He therefore selected the largely undeveloped section between the Augustus forum and the Caesar forum for the forum. The location was on a hill between the Capitol and the Quirinal . Since Trajan did not want to have his forum built on a hill, he had the earth removed from the approximately 35 m high eastern slope of the Quirinal. A number of houses that were located here were leveled for the lavish undertaking.
The structure of the Trajan's Forum can be understood using the sketch (site plan) on the right:
- A triumphal arch erected in 116 AD formed the entrance to the forum.
- A path coming from the Colosseum ran straight through the triumphal arch to the central equestrian statue of Trajan .
- On the excavated western slope of the Quirinal Hill, the so-called Trajan's markets were created in a semicircular arrangement . Shops, magazines and the like were housed here in numerous buildings several stories high. Many of the shopping streets thus created even had Apollodorus of Damascus roofed over so that visitors were protected from the rain. Together with the numerous inner courtyards that arise, the ensemble is reminiscent of modern shopping malls and modern shopping centers .
- The five-aisled basilica Ulpia must have had an impressive effect on the visitors of the forum . Presumably the offices for justice and education were housed here.
- A library consisting of two separate buildings was attached to the Basilica Ulpia . One part of the building housed the Latin books, the other the Greek.
- Between the two parts of the library stood the - still unchanged - Trajan Column , erected to praise the victory in the Dacian Wars . It is the best preserved remnant of the Trajan's Forum to this day.
- As a conclusion to the forum, a Trajan temple was accepted until the excavations in 2004. However, the current status suggests that there was residential development at this point.
The Trajan's Forum, on which statues of honor were erected until late antiquity , was later largely overbuilt. Many buildings or parts of buildings also served as quarries in the Middle Ages. The Trajan Column and large parts of the markets are particularly well preserved. Overall, little has been excavated so far. This is not least due to the fact that the remains of the Trajan's Forum are about 5 m below the current street level of the city. The Via dei Fori Imperiali , built under Mussolini , also crosses the Trajan's forum as well as the two flanking imperial forums, the Augustus and Caesar forums; the archaeological finds were massively damaged or destroyed during their construction.
literature
- Filippo Coarelli : Rome. An archaeological guide. Verlag von Zabern, Mainz 2000, ISBN 3-8053-2685-8 , pp. 122-145.
- Roberto Meneghini, Riccardo Santangeli Valenzani: I Fori Imperiali, gli scavi del Comune di Roma (1991-2007) . Viviani Editori, Roma 2007, ISBN 978-88-7993-125-0
Web links
- The Trajan's Forum at Roma Antiqua - Rome on the Net
- The Trajan's Markets at Roma Antiqua - Rome online
- die-roemer-online.de The Forum of Trajan (German)
- Museum in the Trajan's Markets with exhibits from the Imperial Forums
Coordinates: 41 ° 53 ′ 43.5 ″ N , 12 ° 29 ′ 9.1 ″ E