Module 4

• Trajan

  • Army and military man, was a great leder
  • Adopted by Nerva
  • Became emperor at 45
• Portraits of Trajan

  • Presents him frozen in time at the age of 45
  • Military armour, similar to Prima Porta Augustus
• The Forum of Trajan

  • Built on a hill that he removed
  • Almost all of it was robbed during the medieval period
  • Figuring out the floor plan is difficult
  • Has two libraries, markets, statues, arch, and column
• The Markets of Trajan

  • Multi storied
  • Streets running through them
  • Used as a retaining wall to hold the dug up earth in place
  • First market of it’s kind in Rome
  • A public center of business and trade

  
• Aula at the Forum of Trajan

  • Groin vault with openings
  • Looks like an umbrella in the center
  • Buttresses on the side

  
• Trajan’s column

  • First triumphal column in Rome
  • Shows propaganda stories
  • As high as the hill before being excavated to represent that Trajan can move the earth if he wanted to
  • Impossible for viewer to see everything on it
  • Trajan’s ashes placed at the base of the column

  
• Trajan’s Column Decoration

  • Building a fort
  • Soldiers fighting in Testudo formation
  • Battle with the Dacians
  • Dacian women torture roman soldiers
  • Soldiers caring for the wounded
  • Decians commit suive by posion
  • Surrender of the Dacians
  • Trophies
  • Adlocutio scene
  • Leading animals to sacrifice

  
• The Arch of Trajan

  • Commemorative, top has commemoration inscription
  • Given by the Senate to thank him for paying for a road
  • Reminds people of what Trajan has done
  • Depicts alimenta scene
  • Depicts Trajan being received by Gods
  • Depicts submission of Mesopotamia

  
• Alimenta

  • Depicted on the Arch of Trajan
  • Trajan came up with this idea
  • Government gave loans to people in the form of mortgages and used the interest earned to purchase food for the poor
• Testudo form

  • Depcited on Trajan’s column
  • Soldiers clump together and use their shields to surround themselves
  • Protects from from various angles

  
• Propaganda of the Arch of Trajan

  • Represents the generosity of emperor
  • Reminiscent of Arch of Titus in style
  • 14 panels show domestic and foreign policy
  • Arch was completed by Hadrian who connect himself to Trajan
  • Personifications of the Seasons to imply happiness and prosperity throughout the year
  • Implies that Rome was victorious all over the world and all year long
• Inscription of Trajan’s Column

  • Was used to create the font Trajan
  • Very well preserved and well known

  
• Baths of Trajan

  • Built on top of Nero’s Golden House
  • Completely symmetrical
  • Had a swimming pool
• Natatio

  • Large swimming pool in the Baths of Trajan
  • On a volcanic vent
  • Smells like sulfur

  
• Hadrian 117 - 138 CE

  • Became emperor at 41
  • Portraits do not age him
  • Has a beard, even in portraits
  • Didn’t like warfare
  • Loved Greece and philosophy
• Hadrian Portraits

  • Has a beard
  • First emperor to wear a beard
  • Started a trend of wearing beards

  
• Colossal Head, Turkey

  • Depicts Hadrian
  • Made from marble from the island of Paros
  • Deep drilling of hair

  
• Sabina

  • Hadrian‘s wife
  • Always portrayed as a respectable woman
  • Became deified

  
• Antinous

  • Hadrian‘s lover
  • Drowned in 130 CE as a young teenager
  • Deified by Hadrian > first time that this happened to an individual outside of the Imperial family

  
• Hadrian’s Villa

  • Huge villa
  • Hadrian experimented with architecture here
  • Has the Piazza D’Oro, Segmented pumpkin dome, and the Canopus

  
• Piazza D’Oro

  • Entrance the villa through here
  • Probably designed by Hadrian
  • Has an underground passage

  
• Segmented pumpkin dome

  • Hadrian killed Apollodorus for dismissing his plans
  • Would have had mosaics on it

  
• The Canopus

  • Named after one of the large rivers of the Nile
  • Hadrian named things after places he visited
  • Had columns without a purpose

  
• Pantheon

  • Sacred to multiple Gods
  • Built over time
  • Lots of geometry involved
  • A perfect circle can fit inside the Pantheon
  • Shadows change throughout the day due to light through the hole

  
• Agrippa’s Pantheon

  • No dome above the “tholos”
  • This building burned down
  • Porch was wider

  
• Apollodorus of Damascus

  • Designed by Apollodorus
  • Courtyard with Arch of Pietas was destroyed in the 12th century
  • Finished and changed by Hadrian

  
• Hadrian’s Pantheon

  • Unknown how much Hadrian built (most brick stamps from his reign)
  • Repairs made by Septimius Severus and Caracalla in 202 CE
  • Porch lowered

  
• Temple of Venus and Roma

  • In the Forum
  • Moved the statue of Nero out of the way > moved to the Flavian Amphitheatre
  • Two cellas
  • Stairs going up like a Greek temple
  • On a podium like a Roman temple
• Hadrian’s Wall

  • Became the Northern border for Roman territories
  • Forts were built along the wall
  • Took 6 years to build

  
• Modern interpretations of Hadrian’s wall

  • Can be used for political reasons
  • James I claimed that it was a boundary of Scotland
  • Wall was in service until the 5th centruy
  • Tourism creates pressure on the wall
  • England realized this was a good source of money, posted signs to tell you how to interpret it
• Major Forts Along Hadrian’s Wall

  • Acted as gateways between the south and the north
  • Used for defense of raids, trade, immigration, and control
• Roman Mile Castle

  • 20 - 30 men live here
  • Their job is to march half a Roman mile on each side to create coverage across the wall
  • Can be there quickly in the case of an attack
  • Not very large
  • Faces the Northern Territory

  
• Roman Fort

  • Fairly uniform
  • Has latrines and bath houses
  • 4 gates with towers
  • Gates with have been high to have archers at the top
  • Gateways would have been closed with wooden doors

  
• Vercovicium

  • Has been excavated since the 1800s
  • Built at the same time as the wall
  • Has Vicus, hospital, principal, legate houses, granary, barracks, bath house, and latrine

  
• Vicus

  • Small towns popped up outside the forts
  • Had craftsmen, trades people, fort supports, farmers

  
• Principia

  • Building in the Fort of Hadrian’s wall
  • Has a courtyard
  • Looks like a Roman Forum
  • Would have a statue of the emperor
  • Protected by the barracks
• Legate houses

  • Buildings in the forts of Hadrian’s wall
  • Legate was probably married, older, and a consul
  • Had wife, children, family, and slaves living with him
  • Had his own bath house and courtyard
• Hospitals

  • Building in the fort of Hadrian’s wall
  • Performed surgeries and healed injuries
  • Life expectancy in the army is longer than civilians due to hospitals
  • The best doctors would be here
  • Many doctors were Greek slaves
• Granary

  • A building in the fort of Hadrian’s wall
  • Raised up by pillars so that the grain stays dry
• Roman Barracks

  • Building in the fort of Hadrian‘s wall
  • Centurion has the biggest tent