Trajan's Column
a celebrated monument in Rome, Italy, and the chef- TRANCE d'œuvre of Apollodorus; erected by the Roman senate and people in honor of the emperor in A. D. 114. It still stands in the Forum of Trajan, and is constructed entirely of marble. The shaft is 87 feet high, and whole, including pedestal and statue, 147 feet. Around the column runs a spiral band 3 feet wide and 660 feet long, covered with well-preserved reliefs from Trajan's war with the Dacians, comprising, besides animals, etc., 2,500 human figures. Beneath the column Trajan was interred, and on it was placed his statue, for which that of St.
Peter has been substituted. A staircase in the interior, of 184 steps, leads to an open platform at the top.