File:A handbook of Rome and the Campagna (1899) (14742757376).jpg

Identifier: handbookofromeca00john (find matches)
Title: A handbook of Rome and the Campagna
Year: 1899 (1890s)
Authors: John Murray (Firm)
Subjects: Rome (Italy) -- Guidebooks
Publisher: London : J. Murray
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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Text Appearing Before Image:
etter studied from the casts in theFrench Academy (Villa Medici), orfrom those in the Laterau Museum.fThe sculptures contain no less than2500 human figures, besides a greatnumber of horses, ships, fortresses andother objects. In the interior is aspiral staircase of 184 marble steps,lighted by 42 openings, leading to thesummit, on which stood a colossal giltbronze statue of Trajan holding agilded globe which was erroneouslysupposed to have contained his ashes.The statue was probably carried offby the Byzantine Emperor in 663;the globe is now in the Museum ofthe Capitol. A Statue of St. Peterin gilt bronze, 11 ft. high, was placedupon the column by Sixtus V. in1588, when the feet of Trajans statueare said to have been still fixed onthe block of marble that supportedit. The height of the shaft is 100Roman feet (97J English), and thatof the entire column from its base, ex-clusive of the statue and its pedestal, t The S. Kensiugton Museum bas also a setof casts, not well arranged. PlaLii5,
Text Appearing After Image:
r.S.WkUer. The Citv. Boute 7.—Column of Trajan. 83 127§ feet. The diameter is 12 ft. atthe base and 10 fh. beneath tlie capital.The hitter • is of no definite Order,hut resembles the Doric, the echinusof which has been cut into egg anddart enrichments.—31. The baseconsists of a hirge torus, carved withhxiirel leaves in relief, forming a col-lossal wreath. The Column of MarcusAurelius, omitting the pedestal in bothcases, is of jireeisely the same height,but looks lower, because it has 20spiral bands instead of 23, and largerfigures in higher relief. The last part of the inscriptionlias been understood to mean that thecolumn shows tlie height of the hilltliat was cut away to make roomfor the Forum. This interpretation,however, would make the ridge thuslevelled higher than the Capitol, audvery nearly as high as the Quirinal.It is far more probable that the wordsallude to tlie cutting away of theQuirinal Hill, which was steep andinaccessible before, but was slopedaway to a point on

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