Upon skimming over the topics that we could choose from to
write our report on I was immediately drawn to the Imperial Fora because of the
picture of Trajan’s Column. I did
not necessarily know what it was, what it meant or why it was constructed, but
it enthused me enough to choose the Imperial Fora as my project. After reading more into the Fora itself
I was quite happy with my choice as it had a multitude of purpose behind its
construction, many ornate monuments and a few of the most recognizable Roman
emperors scattered throughout.
However, the Column of Trajan was still the most interesting piece and
the portion that this report will most heavily cover.
I expected that the Forum would be huge in size and a fairly
barren landscape with few remaining architectures still standing. I hoped that there would be a lot;
however, the likeliness of that rock buildings would survive two centuries is
fairly slim. From seeing the Column of Trajan during our tour of the Domus
Romane I had a better picture of what was to come but from a basement window
that permitted a skewed view I assumed that there was much more detail that
would not be noticed until a clearer view was offered.
My initial impression when we were waiting for our special
tour of the Fora was very overwhelming as from where we were seated we had a
spectacular view of the Column. As
expected, there were scattered remains of what once was and the size was
absolutely enormous once we had seen all that is the Imperial Fora. Moreover, even more impressive is
that our first impression of how large it is was actually terribly skewed as
the Fora was cut in half by the Via dei Fori Imperiale. Looking more closely at the Column it
was apparent that the completion of this masterpiece had to take a great amount
of time, effort and planning to construct such a monstrosity. The detail in the artwork showing the Daecian
campaigns was a marvelous and witty way of telling the story as it spirals up
the 100 Roman foot shaft. I am not
too pleased that there is a Christaian statue atop the Column and would have
been much more pleased to see Trajan himself holding up his staff triumphantly,
but it is what it is and I guess it is better than not having the Column there
at all. The rest was fairly boring
and mostly piles of the rubble and debris that had fallen or been burned down
by a plethora of reasons so it was not too appealing to eye. It was, however, intriguing to hear the
stories about Caesar, Pompey and the Venus Genetrix and seeing where Marcus
Aurelius held auctions to raise money for war efforts. I enjoyed the stories but hardly
enjoyed the scenery.
Knowing who had once walked in these Fora and pondering how
many millions of people had walked these same paths before was a very humbling
experience. The thought that the Marcus
Aurelius, Caesar and Trajan roaming these places once in time was incredibly
awesome, as well. I also seriously
enjoyed learning about how they constructed these monuments with what
technologies they used in their day. Being an engineer, figuring our ways out
ways to get projects done the fastest, easiest and most efficient way is very
interesting to me. To be able to
watch the construction of something like the Column of Trajan or the Temple to
Venus Genetrix would be something I would love to do. The fact that the Column was painted as well as carved into
marble blew my mind as that would add an entire new facet to how glorious it
would have looked when it was completed.
My opinion of the Fora, and especially the Column, after
seeing them truly changed immensely.
Knowing that the Column was painted and seeing just how grand the
buildings and structures still standing looked in the past is a shame and
renders it sort of unbecoming and/or boring. However, with the knowledge of what it was in the past and seeing
the visual recreations I definitely think it was one of the greatest sights to
ever be gazed upon and whoever did get the chance to se it was quite a lucky
person.
~Sam Enerson
No comments:
Post a Comment