In The Farrell Auditorium

The emperor Trajan was widely known in antiquity for his investments into the infrastructure of the Roman Empire, including building or rebuilding long stretches of its network of roads, and restructuring the urban fabric of Rome itself. To this day, the archaeological sites of the Forum, Markets, and Column of Trajan remain some of the most distinctive physical attestations of the grandeur of ancient Rome; numerous other building activities are recorded in written sources.

This lecture, by Nathaniel B. Jones, associate professor of art history and archaeology at Washington University in St. Louis, will explore Trajan’s impact on Roman urbanism, with a particular focus on representations of building projects and other important urban markers on objects in the exhibition Ancient Splendor: Roman Art in the Time of Trajan.