Trajan's Trophy

Trajan's Trophy (Latin: Tropaeum Trajani) is a monument built in 109 AD to commemorate the victory of the Roman Emperor Trajan over the Dacians in 102 AD at the Battle of Adamclisi. The monument was located in the Roman province of Moesia, which is now Adamclisi in Romania. It was erected on the site where the 21st Rapax Legion was defeated in 92 AD. Before the monument was built, there was an altar at this location with the names of 3,000 legionaries and auxiliaries who had died "in the battle for the Republic" inscribed on its walls.

The Trajanic monument was inspired by the Mausoleum of Augustus and was dedicated to the god Mars. The monument featured 54 metopes depicting the battles of Roman legions against their enemies; the majority of these (48 out of 54) are now housed in a nearby museum, with one metope located in Istanbul. The monument was intended to serve as a warning to the tribes living near the recently conquered province. Although the original monument has not survived, a 1977 reconstruction now stands in its place, though the metopes in the museum are original.

Trajan's Trophy was situated far from the main routes of European travelers, and thus, it was only rediscovered in the nineteenth century.

Over the centuries, the monument suffered significant damage, as peasants from nearby villages used its parts to build houses. In the late 19th century, an archaeologist from Bucharest, Grigori Tocilescu (1850–1909), together with two Austrian scholars, published the first study on the monument. This work addressed several stylistic and historical issues, such as the dating and chronological order of events related to the construction of the monument.

The monument bears the following inscription:

MARTI ULTOR[I]

IM[P(erator)CAES]AR DIVI

NERVA[E] F(ILIUS) N[E]RVA

TRA]IANUS [AUG(USTUS) GERM(ANICUS)]

DAC]I[CU]S PONT(IFEX) MAX(IMUS)

TRIB(UNICIA) POTEST(ATE) XIII

IMP(ERATOR) VI CO(N)S(UL) V P(ater) P(atriae)

?VICTO EXERC]ITU D[ACORUM]

?---- ET SARMATA]RUM

----]E.

Translation into english:

To Mars Ultor,

Caesar the Emperor, son of the divine Nerva,

Nerva Trajan Augustus, Germanicus,

Dhakik, the Great Pontiff,

Plebeian Tribune for the 13th time,

[proclaimed] By the Emperor [army] for the sixth time,

Consul for the fifth time, Father of the Fatherland,

Victor of the Dacian and Sarmatian armies ...

Related topics

Marcus Ulpius Nerva Trajan, Trajan's Column

Literature

• The Trophy of Trajan // Topsel-Uzh. - M.: Sovetskaya entsiklopediya, 1956. - p. 298. - (Bolshaya sovetskaya entsiklopediya: [in 51 volumes] / ch. ed. by B. A. Vvedensky; 1949-1958, vol. 43).

• Florea Bobu Florescu, Das Siegesdenkmal von Adamklissi. Tropaeum Traiani. Akademieverlag, Bukarest 1965.

• Wilhelm Jänecke, Die ursprüngliche Gestalt des Tropaion von Adamklissi. Winter, Heidelberg 1919.

• Adrian V. Rădulescu, Das Siegesdenkmal von Adamklissi. Konstanza 1972 und öfter.

• Ian A. Richmond: Adamklissi, en Papers of the British School at Rome 35, 1967, p. 29-39. Lino Rossi, A Synoptic Outlook of Adamklissi Metopes and Trajan’s Column Frieze. Factual and Fanciful Topics Revisited, en Athenaeum 85, 1997, p. 471—486.

• Das Tropaion von Adamklissi und provinzialrömische Kunst. Von Adolf Furtwängler (München, Verlag der K. Akademie, 1903), by Adolf Furtwängler Das

• Tropaion von Adamklissi und provinzialromische Kunst : Furtwängler, Adolf, 1853-1907

• Florea Bobu Florescu, Das Siegesdenkmal von Adamklissi. Tropaeum Traiani. Akademieverlag, Bukarest 1965.

• Wilhelm Jänecke, Die ursprüngliche Gestalt des Tropaion von Adamklissi. Winter, Heidelberg 1919.

• Adrian V. Rădulescu, Das Siegesdenkmal von Adamklissi. Konstanza 1972 und öfter.

Trajan's Metopes

Prisoners of war