Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/821

 ROMA. cavations the bases of these columns were discovered partly in their original situation. But it is doubtful whether the fragments of columns of gray granite now seen there belonged to the interior of the basi- lica ; it is more probable that it had columns of ginllo aniico and paonezzato, remains of which have been found (Nibby, For. Trajano, p. 353). The floor was paved with slabs of the same marbles. It is supposed from the authority of two passages in Pausanias to have had a bronze roof (v. 12, x. 5). On the side which faced the forum were three mag- nificent entrances, a large one in the middle and two smaller on each side, decorated with columns, as may be seen on medals. ROMA. 801 BASILICA ULPIA. On the KV. side of the basilica stood, and still stands, the Column of Trajan, the finest monument of the kind in the world. This column was intended to answer two purposes : to serve as a sepulchre for Trajan, and to indicate by its height the depth of soil excavated in order to make room for the forum and its buildings. The latter object is expressed by the inscription, which runs as follows : — SENATVS. POPVLVSQVE. ROMANVS. IMP. CAESARI. DIVI. NERVAE. F. NERVAE TRAIANO. AVG. GERM. DACICO. PONTIF. MAXIMO. TRIE. POT. XVII. IMP. VI. COS. VI. P. P. AD. DECLARANDVM. QVANTAE. ALTITVDINIS MONS. ET. LOCVS. TANT[iS. OPERIjBVS. SIT [egestvs. (Cf. kur.Ydi.Epit. 13 ; Dion Cass. Ixviii. 16). The height of the column, including the pedestal, is 127|- English feet. The diameter at the base is between 12 and 13 feet, and rather more than a foot less at the top. The shaft consists of 19 cylindrical pieces of white marble, in which steps are cut for ascending the interior. On the top was a statue of Trajan, now replaced by that of St. Peter, erected by Pope Sixtus V. When the tomb beneath was opened by the same pontiff", in 1.585, it was discovered to be empty. Round the column runs a spiral band of admirable reliefs, representing the wars of Trajan against De- cebalus, and containing no fewer than 2500 human figures. The height of the reliefs at the bottom is 2 feet, increasing to nearly double that size at the top ; thus doing away with the natural effect of distance, and presenting the figures to the spectator of the same size througliout. The best descriptions of this magnificent column will be found in Fabretti, J)e Columna Trajani, Rome, 1690, with plates by l^ietro Santi Bartoli ; Piranesi, Trofeo, o sia mag- nifica CoUmva CocUde, cf-c, with large folio drawings ; De Rossi, Colmma Trajana desir/nata. The column stood in an open space of no great extent, being 66 feet long and 56 broad. This A'OL. II. space was bounded on its two sides by porticoes with double columns. In the NW. side of the ba- COLUMN OF TRAJAN. silica,* on either side of the column, were two libra- ries, the BiBLioTHECA Gbaeca and Latina, as indicated by Sidonius: — " Cum mcis poni statuam perennem Kerva Trajanus titulis videret Inter auctorcs utriusque tixam Bibliothecae." — (ix. Epiijr. 16.) called by A. GelUus, " Bibliotheca teinpii 'i'rajuui " (xi. 17). 3 F
 * It is remarkable, however, that the library is