Editing Trajan's Column (section)

== Purpose ==
[[File:032 Conrad Cichorius, Die Reliefs der Traianssäule, Tafel XXXII.jpg|thumb|Battle scene between the Roman and Dacian armies]]

It is unclear whether the column was meant to serve a commemorative function, as political propaganda, or both. Traditional scholarship held that the column was a glorifying monument, upholding Trajan as Rome's great emperor. However, recent reconstructions of [[Trajan's Forum]] have determined that any wide view of the column would have been mostly obstructed by two libraries in the Forum which tightly bookended it. Also, because it would have been difficult to follow the spiral frieze from end to end (walking in circles with head inclined), the column's narrative power would have been fairly limited.{{Citation needed|date=October 2021}}

On the other hand, as French archaeologist [[Paul Veyne]] notes, the relief could be read "vertically" from below, with the figure of the emperor recognizable across the bands of images—just as, on the [[Vendôme Column|Colonne Vendôme]], Napoleon's figure can be picked up, scene after scene. Additionally, the two libraries surrounding it provided platforms from which to observe the column if the viewer stood on the top floors, making the complete view of frieze much more visible.{{Citation needed|date=October 2021}}

[[File:001 Conrad Cichorius, Die Reliefs der Traianssäule, Tafel I.jpg|thumb|upright|Trajan's Column around 1896]]
While there is certainly evidence that the Trajan's Column was not put in an ideal spot for visibility, it is impossible to reject the column as some form of a glorification structure. There is the significant point that the column was extremely challenging to construct, so it is unlikely that it would have been placed in the Forum with the intentions of being hidden or out of plain sight.<ref name="Packer, James E 1998"/>

There is also the important idea of the column as a symbol for Trajan. Trajan's ashes were buried in a chamber at the base of the column. At the top of the column was a statue of Trajan. The ground level of the Forum, which is a center of life for Romans, is where the earthly remains of Trajan are buried. The narrative on Trajan's Column unfurls from the base going up, taking a viewer through Trajan's triumph in the Dacian wars and (as originally constructed) finishes with a statue of Trajan above the forum. Considering the practice of deification of emperors which was expected during this time period, especially of glorious Trajan, the symbolism may be interpreted as Trajan's earthly remains staying in the Forum with the Roman people while his conquests ascend him up into the heavens.<ref name="Packer, James E 1998"/>

After Trajan's death in 117, the [[Roman Senate]] voted to have Trajan's ashes buried in the column's square base, which is decorated with captured [[Dacia]]n arms and armor. His ashes and those of his wife, [[Pompeia Plotina|Plotina]], were set inside the base in golden urns (which later disappeared from the monument). One reading of this is that Trajan may have intended the column to be his final resting place from the project's inception, and that the similarities in design to other funerary structures made it a natural choice for the Roman Senate.<ref>{{harvnb|Davies|1997|pp=47–48}}</ref> In particular, the circumambulation demanded of onlookers of the column's frieze is evocative of Roman funerary practice, drawing attention toward the center – and consequently, the [[finial]] of Trajan.{{sfn|Davies|1997}}