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Ancient Roman victory column, a landmark of Rome, Italy

Trajan's Column (, Columna Traiani) 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, north of the Roman Forum. Completed in AD 113, the freestanding column is most famous for its spiral bas relief, which depicts the wars between the Romans and Dacians (101–102 and 105–106). Its design has inspired numerous victory columns, both ancient and modern. The structure is about in height, including its large pedestal. The shaft is made from a series of 20 colossal Carrara marble drums, each weighing about 32 tons, After construction, a statue of Trajan was put in place; this disappeared in the Middle Ages. On December 4, 1587, the top was crowned with a bronze figure of Saint Peter the Apostle by Pope Sixtus V, which remains to this day. Trajan's Column was originally flanked by two sections of the Ulpian Library, a Greek chamber and a Latin chamber, which faced each other and had walls lined with niches and wooden bookcases for scrolls. The Latin chamber likely contained Trajan's commentary on the Roman Dacian Wars, the Dacica, which most scholars agree was intended to be echoed in the spiralling, sculpted narrative design of Trajan's Column.

The column shows 2,662 figures and 155 scenes; Trajan himself appears on the column 58 times. The continuous helical frieze winds 25 times from base to capital and was an architectural innovation in its time. The design was adopted by later emperors such as Marcus Aurelius. The narrative band expands from about at the base of the column to at the top. The scenes unfold continuously. Often a variety of different perspectives are used in the same scene, so that more can be revealed (e. g., a different angle is used to show men working behind a wall).

The relief portrays Trajan's two victorious military campaigns against the Dacians; the lower half illustrating the first (101–102), and the top half illustrating the second (105–106). These campaigns were contemporary to the time of the column's construction. The frieze repeats standardized scenes of imperial address (adlocutio), sacrifice (lustratio), and the army setting out on campaign (profectio). Scenes of battle are very much a minority on the column; instead it emphasizes images of orderly soldiers carrying out ceremony and construction. The aim of the Dacian campaigns was to incorporate and integrate Dacia into the Roman Empire as a province. On Trajan's Column, imagery related to wartime violence in general seems to have been downplayed and depictions of violent action towards foreign women and children are nonexistent. Key specific events portrayed are the first crossing of the Danube by the Roman legion, Trajan's voyage up the Danube, the surrender of the Dacians at the close of the first war, the great sacrifice by the Danube bridge during the second war, the assault on the Dacian capital, and the death of the Dacian king Decebalus. The two sections are separated by a personification of victory writing on a shield flanked on either side by trophies. Great care was taken to distinguish the men and women from both sides of the campaign as well as the ranks within these distinct groups. The scenes are crowded with sailors, soldiers, statesmen and priests, showing about 2,500 figures in all. It also exists as a valuable source of information on Roman and barbarian arms and methods of warfare (such as forts, ships, weapons, etc.) and costume. The relief shows details such as a ballista or catapult. This detail is evident in the variety of trees on the Column, each individually stylised following 37 types, which has led some scholars to identify particular species. The precise details create a strong effect of verisimilitude; the designer presents the images as objective historical truth. Women for the most part occupy and define the margins of the scenes. However, mortal females in Roman state art are so rare it is remarkable that they are included at all in a war monument. In the male discourse of warfare, women are a visual trope that develops further the idea of subjugation by feminizing the foreign conquered. These libraries were built in tandem with the column. They apparently included upper level viewing platforms for two sides of the column. By having an elevated vantage point, the figures of the scenes, carved in shallow relief and detailed with paint and metal fittings, could be seen more closely (nevertheless it remained impossible for the ancient viewer to follow sequentially the continuous spiral of the reliefs). The problem with visibility of the upper areas is further apparent when we compare Trajan's Column to the Column of Marcus Aurelius. The figures in the later Column of Marcus Aurelius are more deeply cut and even simplified over the height of the shaft because there were no surrounding buildings to serve as viewing platforms. The different carving style seems to have been adopted to enhance visibility. The two libraries flanking the column helped to further the emperor's program of propaganda. In addition to serving as viewing platforms for the column, they housed valuable works of literature for the people of Rome. Surely one important text kept here was Trajan's own account of the Dacian Wars, now lost. The reliefs on the column documenting the Dacian campaigns would have provided a vivid complement to Trajan's account of the wars. The people of Rome were reminded of his victories every time they enjoyed the open space and amenities of the forum. The combination of the column and the magnificent buildings that surrounded it would have created an awe inspiring spectacle.

It is unclear whether the column was meant to serve a commemorative function, as political propaganda, or both. Traditional scholarship held that the column was a glorifying monument, upholding Trajan as Rome's great emperor. However, recent reconstructions of Trajan's Forum have determined that any wide view of the column would have been mostly obstructed by two libraries in the Forum which tightly bookended it. Also, because it would have been difficult to follow the spiral frieze from end to end (walking in circles with head inclined), the column's narrative power would have been fairly limited. On the other hand, as French archaeologist Paul Veyne notes, the relief could be read "vertically" from below, with the figure of the emperor recognizable across the bands of images—just as, on the Colonne Vendôme, Napoleon's figure can be picked up, scene after scene. Additionally, the two libraries surrounding it provided platforms from which to observe the column if the viewer stood on the top floors, making the complete view of frieze much more visible. While there is certainly evidence that the Trajan's Column was not put in an ideal spot for visibility, it is impossible to reject the column as some form of a glorification structure. There is the significant point that the column was extremely challenging to construct, so it is unlikely that it would have been placed in the Forum with the intentions of being hidden or out of plain sight. In particular, the circumambulation demanded of onlookers of the column's frieze is evocative of Roman funerary practice, drawing attention toward the center – and consequently, the finial of Trajan.

The interior of Trajan's Column is hollow: entered by a small doorway at one side of the base, a spiral stair of 185 steps gives access to the platform above, having offered the visitor in antiquity a view over the surrounding Trajan's forum; 43 window slits illuminate the ascent. The column stands high from the ground to the top of the statue base: Located immediately next to the large Basilica Ulpia, it had to be constructed sufficiently tall in order to function as a vantage point and to maintain its own visual impact on the forum. The column proper, that is the shaft without the pedestal, the statue and its base, is high, a number which almost corresponds to 100 Roman feet; beginning slightly above the bottom of the base, the helical staircase inside measures a mere less. The column is composed of 29 blocks of Luni marble, weighing in total more than 1100 t. The quality of the craftsmanship was such that the staircase is practically even, and the joints between the huge blocks still fit accurately. Despite numerous earthquakes in the past, the column today leans at an angle of less than half a degree. Apart from the practical advantages it offered, the design also became closely associated with imperial power, being later adopted by Trajan's successors Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. In Napoleon's time, a similar column decorated with a spiral of relief sculpture was erected in the Place Vendôme in Paris to commemorate his victory at Austerlitz.

It is assumed that the column drums were lifted by cranes into their place. Ancient sources, as well as a substantial body of archaeological evidence, show that Roman engineers were capable of raising large weights clear off the ground. The typical drum of Trajan's Column weighs c. 32 t, while the capital, the heaviest block above the base and pedestal, is even at 53.3 t, which had to be lifted high. Even so, for such loads, the typical Roman treadwheel crane, which could only reach a maximum height of in any event, was clearly inadequate. According to modern calculations, eight capstans were needed to hoist the 55 t base block, while the length of rope required for the highest drums measured some assuming two block pulleys. Such a lifting tower was later also used to great effect by the Renaissance architect Domenico Fontana to relocate obelisks in Rome. From his report, it becomes obvious that the coordination of the lift between the various pulling teams required a considerable amount of concentration and discipline, since, if the force was not applied evenly, the excessive stress on the ropes would make them rupture. In case of Trajan's Column, the difficulties were exacerbated even further by the simultaneous work on the neighbouring Basilica Ulpia, which limited the available space so that the capstan crews had proper access only from one side.