TRAJAN'S COLUMN. 209 



Monument eleve a la glorie de la g ramie armoe, 



PAE NAPOLEON LE GRAND. 

 Commence le XXV. Aout 1806, termine le XV. Aout 1810, sous la 



direction de 



D. V. DENON, 



M. M. I. B. Lepere et L. Gondoin Architects. 



Over the door leading to the staircase is a bas-relief, representing two 

 figures of Fame supporting a tablet, upon which is the following 

 inscription. 



NEAPOLIO. IMP. AUG., 

 MONUMENTUM BELLI GERMANIC!. 



ANNO M. D. C. C. C. V. 

 TRIMESTRI SPATIA. DUCTU. SUO 



PROFLIGATI 



EX. ./ERE. CAPTO. 



GLORIA. EXERCITUS. MAXIMI 



DICAVIT. 



TRAJAN'S COLUMN AT ROME. (15.) 



Foremost among the monuments of antiquity, which the hand of Time 

 has left to mark the by-gone glory of imperial Rome, stands this 

 beautiful column. By the description (which is still to be read) on its 

 base, it was erected in the year 115, in honor of the victories of Trajan 

 in his two expeditions against the Dacians ; but he was destined never 

 to see this testimony of his country's gratitude, for he died of dysentery 

 at Seleucia, in 1 1 7, while engaged in his war with the Parthians. The 

 column is entirely composed of white marble, having a base, a shaft in 

 the Doric order, and a capital ; it is one hundred and fifty-one feet in 

 height, and consists of only thirty-three blocks of marble, of which eight 

 compose the base, twenty-three the shaft, and two the capital ; there is a 

 spiral staircase in the interior, which is entirely cut out of the same 

 stones, having forty-two loop holes to admit the light ; it was anciently 

 surmounted by a statue of the Emperor Trajan; but has now one of the 

 apostle Peter. But the greatest beauty of the pillar consists in the bas- 

 relief, which covers the whole of the shaft ; this is in the form of an 

 ascending spiral riband, which has twenty-two revolutions before it 

 reaches the top ; there are not less than three thousand figures beautifully 

 sculptured, representing the victories over the Dacians, and two trium- 

 phal processions ; the figures are each two feet in height at the bottom 



