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All images © by Roberto Piperno, owner of the domain. Write to romapip@quipo.it. Text edited by Rosamie Moore.

To the Italian visitors of my web site

Trajan's Markets Trajan's Markets


In 106 AD in a remote town in the Carpatian Mountains, Decebalus, King of the Dacians killed himself; his example was followed by other Dacian chieftains; they were surrounded by Roman troops who had been chasing them for months after having conquered their capital Sarmizegetusa. It was the final event of the Second Dacian War. Emperor Trajan, who had personally led the campaign, was given an extraordinary triumphal procession in Rome. Dacia (today's Romania) was rich in gold and silver and in 107 the emperor used these newly acquired resources to finance a major expansion of the Roman Forum.

Great Hemicycle
Great Hemicycle.

Forum is a Latin word meaning "public square surrounded by porticoes and buildings used for judicial and other businesses". In the lack of newspapers it was also the place where people went so they would know what was going on. The Roman Forum was located between the Capitoline and the Palatine hills. In 54 BC Julius Caesar started enlarging its western part (Foro di Cesare); in 2 BC Augustus expanded the Forum to the north (Foro di Augusto). At this point the Forum was surrounded by hills: the Capitoline to the west, the Palatine to the south, the Quirinale to the north: an expansion to the east was blocked by the Colosseo and other buildings. Trajan asked Apollodorus of Damascus to develop a project to make room for a further enlargement of the Forum. Apollodorus was an engineer/architect who had built a bridge over the Danube for Trajan during the Dacian campaign: it had twenty pillars and it was the longest arch bridge in the world.

Great Hemicycle
Great Hemicycle: upper story: (left) windows; (right) corridor.

Apollodorus decided to level to the ground the southern part of Quirinale: he then built on the flattened land a new forum dedicated to Trajan where he placed a gigantic column. Apollodorus realized that the hilly ground behind the new forum was both a poor background for the monuments he was erecting and a potential threat as it could slide down on them. He considered building a thick wall, similar to that which hid the view of the poor dwellings behind Foro di Augusto, but feared it could collapse. Eventually Apollodorus built a low wall to mark the boundaries of Trajan's Forum, but devised a more radical solution to prevent landslides. The slope of the hill was terraced and became the site of a commercial district (Trajan's Markets).
The lower terraces were given a round shape because in this way they better withstood the pressure of the hill. So the so called Great Hemicycle is both a finely designed monument and the evidence of an advanced knowledge of construction techniques. After 1900 years it still serves the purpose for which it was built.

Apsidal Hall
(left) Western apsidal hall; (right) dome of the hall.

The Great Hemicycle was strengthened by two halls at its end: they too had the shape of a hemicycle and were covered by a low dome, which had the same structure as the one which was built for the Pantheon a few years later. Many experts credit that dome to Apollodorus.

Shops
(left) Shops in Via Biberatica; (right) reconstructed panels which were used to close the shops.

The upper terraces have an irregular shape: the shops aligned along the market's main street were most likely taverns; Via Biberatica, the medieval name of the street is most likely a reference to biber, a Latin slang term for beverage, which is also the origin of beer.
Most of the travertine blocks which frame the shops are the result of a 1930s reconstruction.

Via Biberatica and Via della Torre
(left) Via Biberatica; (right) Via della Torre (delle Milizie).

During the Middle Ages the solid buildings designed by Apollodorus were modified to serve other purposes such as monasteries and a series of fortifications which included a high tower.

Great Hall
(left) Access to the Great Hall; (right) upper story.

The sixth and highest terrace is mainly occupied by a large rectangular building, the use of which is not fully understood yet. Its two storeys house a small museum providing information on how the emperors enlarged the Roman Forum (Museo dei Fori Imperiali - external link).

Great Hemicycle: decoration
Great Hemicycle: marbles in the square and mosaics in the shops.


The large square in front of the Great Hemicycle was paved with coloured marbles, while the shops were paved with mosaics. Although the mosaics were designed according to very simple schemes yet these were different in each shop. A few years later a similar approach was followed in the decoration of the Hospitalia (guest rooms) of Villa Adriana.

Fragments of decorated marbles
Fragments of decorated marbles.

Like many other ancient monuments, the markets were stripped of their marbles: the few remaining lintels show an elaborate design with a predominance of curved lines.

View of the Campidoglio
View of S. Maria d'Aracoeli (left) and Monument to Victor Emmanuel (right).

The upper terraces offer interesting views over Trajan's Forum and the Capitoline Hill. Occasionally Modern Art exhibitions are arranged in Trajan's Markets.

Kan Yasuda
Views framed by works by Kan Yasuda (January 2008).