L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, AUGUST 5, 2021 www.italoamericano.org 12 L'Italo-Americano E specially in the p a s t , v i s u a l a r t s w e r e n ' t only a matter of b e a u t y , t h e y had a didactic function: in t h e M i d d l e A g e s , f o r instance, famous pictorial works in churches aimed at teaching the tenets of the Gospels to people who were largely illiterate. Frescoes, portraits and paintings could also work as an instrument of political propaganda: just think of the way Napoleon was por- trayed or, even closer to our days, the unrealistic por- t r a i t s o f M u s s o l i n i a n d H i t l e r – t h e l a t t e r e v e n d e p i c t e d i n a m e d i e v a l knight armor, grotesque pal- adin of insanity and evil, by A u s t r i a n a r t i s t H u b e r t Lanzinger – made exclusive- ly to deliver a message of power and strength to the masses. The goal of art in history, in other words, often tran- scended aesthetics, and the Romans made no exception. Known for their naturalistic, reality-based approach to artistic representation, their a i m w a s t o r e p r e s e n t t h e real image of people, blem- ishes and faults included. While the Greeks based all on the balance of propor- tions, Roman painting, and especially sculpture, wanted the truth of nature to tran- spire. But, as you would expect f r o m a p e o p l e o f s u c h a great military tradition, the Romans had a penchant to use their artistic talent to indulge in the celebration of their main victorious wars and battles, as they notably did in the majestic Arch of Constantine and Arch Titus. There is, however, anoth- er piece of sculpted architec- t u r e i n R o m e t h a t t e l l s a story in images and it does so in a way that is almost cinematographic: Trajan's C o l u m n , o n e o f R o m e ' s most beautiful and original monuments. The column is part of the archaeological complex of Trajan's forum and market, which is today divided by Via dei Fori Imperiali. The first thing that strikes about t h e c o l u m n , w h i c h w a s e r e c t e d t o c e l e b r a t e Emperor Trajan's conquest of Dacia (modern Romania), is its architectural autono- my, as it wasn't part of any building, but rather created a s a f r e e s t a n d i n g p i e c e . Then, of course, comes the rich artistic and narrative complexity of the frieze that spirals all the way to col- umn's top, some 30 meters (or 98 ft) above street level, 35 (115 ft) if we also count its pedestal. It has a diame- ter of 3.7 meters (12.1 ft) and it is made of 20 Carrara marble drums, each weight- i n g s o m e 3 2 t o n s . I f stretched flat, the column's frieze – which turns around t h e c o l u m n 2 3 t i m e s - - would be 190 meters long (620 ft). Trajan's Column was the first colonna coclide ever built: this is a structure typi- cal of Roman art, a free- s t a n d i n g c o l u m n u s u a l l y decorated with a winding f r i e z e o f m i l i t a r y e v e n t s , w i t h a s p i r a l s t a i r c a s e inside. In fact, the difficult- t o - t r a n s l a t e a d j e c t i v e "coclide" does refer to the spiral shape of the stairs inside the column and not, a s o n e m a y t h i n k , t o t h e w i n d i n g b a s - r e l i e f o f i t s exterior. The column was inaugu- r a t e d i n 1 1 3 A D , t o c o m - memorate – as we said – T r a j a n ' s v i c t o r i e s i n t h e D a c i a n W a r s s o m e y e a r s earlier (101-106 AD). It was located behind the Basilica U l p i a a n d b e t w e e n t w o libraries, of which no ves- tiges remain today. Some, in fact, believe that the column w a s p l a c e d s t r a t e g i c a l l y between such buildings, so that scholars could "read" it from the libraries' balconies. Interestingly, historians make yet another connec- t i o n b e t w e e n T r a j a n ' s Columns and "books," one that is curious as much as it is a sign of our ancestors' ingenuity. In Roman times "books" – known as volumi- n a - - w e r e n o t w h a t w e know today: they were usu- a l l y c o p i e d o n p a p y r u s s h e e t s , w h i c h w e r e t h e n glued together and rolled o n t o t h e m s e l v e s . I f y o u wanted to read a volumen, you had to unroll it little by little: needless to say, they were cumbersome, difficult to manage and very much prone to get damaged. But, apparently, this very charac- t e r i s t i c o f t h e v o l u m i n a , their rolled-up shape, was t h e i n s p i r a t i o n b e h i n d T r a j a n ' s C o l u m n a n d i t s frieze, which is reminiscent of a scroll in the process of being unrolled. True or not, it is definitely a fascinating i d e a , e v e n m o r e s o w h e n considering how the frieze needs to be "read" to under- stand the chronology and outcome of the events nar- rated, much as it happens for a book (around 365 AD, the Romans began writing on parchment and to fold and sew together the sheets, c r e a t i n g v o l u m i n a m u c h closer in look and feel to modern books). The purpose of the spiral staircase inside the column has also been debated by historians and archaeolo- gists alike, but the inscrip- t i o n s o n t h e c o l u m n ' s pedestal can, in fact, be here o f c o n s i d e r a b l e h e l p . B y reading, we find out that the column was erected in the place where once a mons stood – don't think "moun- tain" here, but rather a small hill of some sort – which was entirely excavated to free space for the forum. The column was built the same height of the mons, as a m e m e n t o t o t h e g r e a t urbanistic work carried out, a n d a s t a i r c a s e – s p i r a l shaped, of course, to fit the column's cylindrical shape – was placed inside so people could reach the column's top and still see the city the way it could be seen from the old mons. The last secret of Trajan's Column lies in its pedestal: inside of it was the funerary chamber of Trajan and his wife Plotina, where the gold urns containing their ashes were once kept. From there, t h e s o u l o f t h e E m p e r o r could still rise, reminiscing the glorious events of his military career narrated on the column, above the city of Rome and contemplate it from above. Trajan's Column, with the spiral of its frieze telling us a story of glory and victory (Photo: Wing Travelling/Dreamstime) LIFE PEOPLE PLACES HERITAGE Trajan's column: Rome's way to tell history with pictures CHIARA D'ALESSIO

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