The statue of Trajan is an outdoor twentieth-century

bronze sculpture Bronze is the most popular metal for Casting (metalworking), cast metal sculptures; a cast bronze sculpture is often called simply "a bronze". It can be used for statues, singly or in groups, reliefs, and small statuettes and figurines, as w ...

depicting the Roman Emperor

Trajan Trajan ( ; la, Caesar Nerva Traianus; 18 September 539/11 August 117) was Roman emperor from 98 to 117. Officially declared ''optimus princeps'' ("best ruler") by the senate, Trajan is remembered as a successful soldier-emperor who presi ...

, located in front of a section of the

London Wall The London Wall was a defensive wall first built by the Romans around the strategically important port town of Londinium in AD 200, and is now the name of a modern street in the City of London. It has origins as an initial mound wall and ...

built by Romans, at

Tower Hill Tower Hill is the area surrounding the Tower of London in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is infamous for the public execution of high status prisoners from the late 14th to the mid 18th century. The execution site on the higher gro ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, United Kingdom.

Description and history

Trajan is shown bareheaded and wearing a tunic, holding a scroll in his left hand while gesturing with his right hand raised. A plaque at its base contains the inscription: The statue was installed in 1980 as a bequest from P. B. "Tubby" Clayton, the vicar of

All Hallows-by-the-Tower All Hallows-by-the-Tower, at one time dedicated jointly to All Hallows (All Saints) and the Virgin Mary and sometimes known as All Hallows Barking, is an ancient Anglican church on Byward Street in the City of London, overlooking the Tower of ...

. The

Museum of London The Museum of London is a museum in London, covering the history of the UK's capital city from prehistoric to modern times. It was formed in 1976 by amalgamating collections previously held by the City Corporation at the Guildhall Museum (fou ...

believes the figure to have been recovered from a scrapyard in Southampton in the 1920s, and notes that its head does not match its body. There is no information presented at the site about the sculptor. It is a cast of a late 1st century statue found in

Minturno Minturno is a city and ''comune'' in the southern Lazio, Italy, situated on the north west bank of the Garigliano (known in antiquity as the Liris), with a suburb on the opposite bank about from its mouth, at the point where the Via Appia crosse ...

, which is on display at the National Archaeological Museum in Naples. The upper part of the head is the result of restoration;"Roma caput mundi", il mito della grandezza
/ref> other casts are in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

(at the

via dei Fori Imperiali The Via dei Fori Imperiali (formerly ''Via dei Monti'', then ''Via dell'Impero'') is a road in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, that runs in a straight line from the Piazza Venezia to the Colosseum. Its course takes it over parts of the Fo ...

and Museum of Roman Civilization),

Ancona Ancona (, also , ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region in central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona and of the region. The city is located northeast of Rome, on the Adriatic ...

and Benevento. Trajan presided over the second-greatest military expansion in Roman history, after

Augustus Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pr ...

, leading the empire to attain its maximum territorial extent by the time of his death. He never himself visited Britain.

References

External links

London's Roman walls
BBC {{Portal bar, Ancient Rome, London, Visual arts 1980 sculptures Bronze sculptures in London London Borough of Tower Hamlets Monuments and memorials in London Outdoor sculptures in London

Statues in London Statues of heads of government

Description and history

See also

References

External links