Page 94 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Rome

92  ROME AREA B Y AREA

but asked him not to pray for s Forum of
the souls of any more pagans. Augustus
According to legend, when
Trajan’s ashes were exhumed, Piazza del Grillo 1. Map 5 B5. See
his skull and tongue were not Trajan’s Markets’ Visitors’ Check list, p91.
only intact, but his tongue told Tel 06-0608. Closed to the public
but viewable from above.
of his release from hell. The land
around the column was then
declared sacred and the column The Forum of Augustus was
itself was spared. The statue of built to celebrate Augustus’s
Trajan remained on top of the victory over Julius Caesar’s
column until 1587, when it was assassins, Brutus and Cassius,
replaced with one of St. Peter. at the Battle of Philippi in 41 BC.
The temple in its center was
dedicated to Mars the Avenger.
p Torre delle Milizie The forum stretched from a
Detail of Trajan’s Column high wall at the foot of the
Mercati Traianei, Via IV Novembre. seedy Suburra quarter to the
o Trajan’s Column Map 5 B4. Tel 06-679 0048 Closed to edge of the Forum of Caesar. At
the public.
Via dei Fori Imperiali. Map 5 A4 & 12 least half of it is now concealed
F4. See Visitors’ Checklist for Trajan’s For centuries this massive brick below Mussolini’s Via dei Fori
Markets, p91. tower was thought to have Imperiali. The temple is easily
been the one in which Nero identified, with its cracked steps
This elegant marble column stood watching Rome burn, and four Corinthian columns.
was inaugurated by Trajan in after he had set it alight to clear Originally it had a statue of
AD 113, and celebrates his two the city’s slums. It is uncertain Mars that looked very much
campaigns in Dacia (Romania) whether arson was among like Augustus. In case anyone
in AD 101–3 and AD 107–8. Nero’s crimes, but it is certain failed to notice the resemblance,
The column, base, and pedestal that he did not watch the fire a giant statue of Augustus
are 131 ft (40 m) tall – precisely from this tower – it was built himself was placed against the
the same height as the spur in the 13th century. Suburra wall.
of Quirinal Hill that was
excavated to make room for a Casa dei Cavalieri d Forum of Caesar
Trajan’s Forum.
Spiraling up the column are di Rodi Via del Carcere Tulliano. Map 5 A5 &
minutely detailed scenes from Piazza del Grillo 1. Map 5 B5. Tel 12 F5. Tel 06-0608. @ 85, 87, 186, 810,
the campaigns, beginning with 06-0608. @ 85, 87, 117, 186, 810. 850. Open by appointment only.
the Romans preparing for war Open Tue am, Thu am (by appt only,
and ending with the Dacians well in advance). The first of Rome’s Imperial fora
being ousted from their was built by Julius Caesar. He
homeland. The column is Since the 12th century the spent a fortune – most of it
pierced with small windows to crusading order, the Knights booty from his conquest of Gaul
illuminate its internal spiral of St. John, also known as the – buying up and demolishing
staircase (closed to the public). Knights of Rhodes (Rodi) or houses on the site. Taking center
To see the reliefs in detail, there Malta, have had their priorate stage was a temple dedicated in
is a complete set of casts in the in this medieval house above 46 BC to the goddess Venus
Museo della Civiltà Romana in the Forum of Augustus. If you Genetrix, from whom Caesar
EUR (see p268). are lucky enough to get inside, claimed descent. The temple
When Trajan died in AD 117, ask to see the beautiful contained statues of Caesar and
his ashes, along with those of Cappella di San Giovanni Cleopatra as well as of Venus. All
his wife Plotina, were placed in (Chapel of St. John). that remains of this temple to
a golden urn in the column’s
hollow base. The column’s
survival was largely thanks
to the intervention of Pope
Gregory the Great (reigned
590–604). He was so moved
by a relief showing Trajan
helping a woman whose son
had been killed that he begged
God to release the emperor’s
soul from hell. God duly
appeared to the pope to say
that Trajan had been rescued, Forum of Augustus, as seen from the Temple of Mars

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