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The Characteristics And Comparison Of The Trajan's Column

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Introduction: This essay will focus on one of Rome’s most well preserved monuments. A monument which stood the test of time, ever since reflecting an important part of Rome’s military history in a well preserved state, the Trajan’s Column. In this essay I will discuss who Trajan, the man who gave the Trajan’s Column its name, was and why he decided to build such a complex monument for himself. What he was trying to tell the people and visitors of Rome with this monument and look into the initial construction history. It will also be debated if the Trajan’s Column was a work of propaganda, or if there is after all more to it. A war to pay the bills: In order to fully understand the function of the Trajan’s Column from both socio and political …show more content…

The iconographic representations of the Dacian Wars which are etched into the Column are of great importance for the study of Trajans Davian war as no writing or any other historical documentation exist.It can be described as a “history in pictures”.The etchings in spiralling friezes in the Column reveals not only a lot about the actual battle but also but the lifestyle of the ancient Roman fighters. Trajan designed a beautiful monument for which he spared no costs, he only used the finest supplies for the construction. The Dacians were well known for they great supplies of precious stones and mining. No costs were spared to create the monument and inscribe it in his honour, sparing no costs could be form of propaganda as it could be linked to the wealth gain Roman experienced after the winning of the Dacian battle. The iconographic scenes which are depicted around the column serve as a form of military propaganda as the depict the victory of Roman in the Dacian war. Also the forum on which the stature is build could be seen as a depiction of propaganda as it could be seen as the extension of the boarders that was achieved through the winning of the

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