DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.71133#0469
CHAPTER XVI.
From the Forum of Trajan to the Corso and the
Pincian Hill.
325.—THE FORUM OF TRAJAN—PERSECUTION OF TRAJAN.
THE Forum of Trajan, which is an artificial hollow between the
Capitol and the Quirinal, represents a stupendous feat of
engineering, a hill 140 feet high having been cleared away by
that Emperor, so as to facilitate communication between the
different parts of the city. The column shows the height of the
hill that was levelled.1 The present square is but a fourth part
of the original Forum. The broken columns and other ruins we
see at present belonged to the Basilica Ulpia, a splendid edifice
erected by Trajan, where two hundred years later Constantine,
in presence of the senate and people, openly professed his faith
in Christianity, and invited the senators to follow his example
in embracing that religion. He further declared that thence-
forth Christians were to be free to have public churches, which
should enjoy all the privileges hitherto conceded to pagan
temples.2
A description of the seven different sections which the
Forum comprised, viz., the triumphal arch, the square itself,
the Basilica Ulpia, the Bibliotheca Ulpia, the two hemicycles,
the monumental column, and the temple of Trajan—will be
found in Lanciani’s Ancient Rome. “The ensemble of these
various sections was considered not only the masterpiece of
Roman architecture of the golden age, but one of the marvels of
the world.” The area was adorned with numerous statues ;
on all sides were groups in bronze and marble representing
1 The 700,000 or 800,000 cubic metres of earth and rock removed
by Trajan to make room for his Forum were laid over the public
cemetery between the Via Pinciana and the Via Salaria. For fuller
information on the Forum of Trajan, the Basilica Ulpia, etc., see
Grisar, I Papi del medio Evo, pp. 501, seq.; Lanciani, Ruins of Ancient
Rome, p. 315.
2 See No. 42.
From the Forum of Trajan to the Corso and the
Pincian Hill.
325.—THE FORUM OF TRAJAN—PERSECUTION OF TRAJAN.
THE Forum of Trajan, which is an artificial hollow between the
Capitol and the Quirinal, represents a stupendous feat of
engineering, a hill 140 feet high having been cleared away by
that Emperor, so as to facilitate communication between the
different parts of the city. The column shows the height of the
hill that was levelled.1 The present square is but a fourth part
of the original Forum. The broken columns and other ruins we
see at present belonged to the Basilica Ulpia, a splendid edifice
erected by Trajan, where two hundred years later Constantine,
in presence of the senate and people, openly professed his faith
in Christianity, and invited the senators to follow his example
in embracing that religion. He further declared that thence-
forth Christians were to be free to have public churches, which
should enjoy all the privileges hitherto conceded to pagan
temples.2
A description of the seven different sections which the
Forum comprised, viz., the triumphal arch, the square itself,
the Basilica Ulpia, the Bibliotheca Ulpia, the two hemicycles,
the monumental column, and the temple of Trajan—will be
found in Lanciani’s Ancient Rome. “The ensemble of these
various sections was considered not only the masterpiece of
Roman architecture of the golden age, but one of the marvels of
the world.” The area was adorned with numerous statues ;
on all sides were groups in bronze and marble representing
1 The 700,000 or 800,000 cubic metres of earth and rock removed
by Trajan to make room for his Forum were laid over the public
cemetery between the Via Pinciana and the Via Salaria. For fuller
information on the Forum of Trajan, the Basilica Ulpia, etc., see
Grisar, I Papi del medio Evo, pp. 501, seq.; Lanciani, Ruins of Ancient
Rome, p. 315.
2 See No. 42.