Your post had a photo of Leonidas lying pierced on a bed of shields. It was the custom in ancient times to pile shields of the vanquished at the foot of the trophaeum. Here’s a photo of a relief from Trajan’s Column – NB, a column, covered with depictions of war – that shows a Roman trophaeum, from the Dacian Wars.Here is the accompanying image:
Relief on Trajan's Column showing
the piled shields of the vanquished
Here's what Wikipedia says about Trajan's Column:
Trajan's Column (Italian: Colonna Traiana) is a Roman triumphal column in Rome, Italy, that commemorates Roman emperor Trajan's victory in the Dacian Wars. It was probably constructed under the supervision of the architect Apollodorus of Damascus at the order of the Roman Senate. It is located in Trajan's Forum, built near the Quirinal Hill, north of the Roman Forum. Completed in AD 113, the freestanding column is most famous for its spiral bas relief, which artistically describes the epic wars between the Romans and Dacians (101–102 and 105–106). Its design has inspired numerous victory columns, both ancient and modern.As I wrote in my previous post:
The structure is about 30 metres (98 ft) in height, 35 metres (125 ft) including its large pedestal. The shaft is made from a series of 20 colossal Carrara marble drums, each weighing about 32 tons, with a diameter of 3.7 metres (11 ft). The 190-metre (625 ft) frieze winds around the shaft 23 times. Inside the shaft, a spiral staircase of 185 stairs provides access to a viewing platform at the top. The capital block of Trajan's Column weighs 53.3 tons, which had to be lifted to a height of c. 34 m.
Ancient coins indicate preliminary plans to top the column with a statue of a bird, probably an eagle, but after construction, a statue of Trajan was put in place; this statue disappeared in the Middle Ages. On December 4, 1587, the top was crowned by Pope Sixtus V with a bronze figure of St. Peter, which remains to this day.
The ancients influence us, through their own type of wisdom, and their own journies towards truth, our truth (which is that of Christianity).Pope Sixtus V crowned this Roman column into a Christian monument, replacing the figure of Trajan with that of St. Peter in 1587. St. Peter reaches out to the gates of heavens with his keys and his judgement, atop this tall column.
Matthew 16:19:
"I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."
Trajan's Column in Rome, with St. Peter at the top
More on the history of the Trajan Column here
Top of the Trajan Column with St. Peter's figure
As part of the extensive rebuilding of Rome, Pope Sixtus V capped the Trajan's Column with a large bronze statue of St Peter in 1587. The artist for the statue, Leonardo Sormani, was part of a stable of artists and architects whom Sixtus used for his numerous projects...-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sormani's muscular St Peter has an active striding pose, the figure turning on axis as he extends his keys into space. The exaggerated facial features, perhaps necessitated by the great height of the figure from the ground, recall those of earlier papal images.
[Text Source: Web Gallery of Art]
Posted By: Kidist P. Asrat
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