Academics Lesson IV—Ancient Geography

Question 1

Trajan’s Forum (the Forum Ulpium) can be found built into the sides between which two hills of Rome?

Answer 1

Capitoline and Quirinal

Fun Fact: In 101 A.D. the emperor Trajan led his legions across the Danube river to conquer the kingdom of Dacia, modern day Romania. The king of the Dacians, Decebalus, had previously fought a successful war against the Roman emperor Domitian. By 106 A.D. Trajan had conquered Dacia and transformed it into a Roman province. In Rome Trajan then set out to build a monument to his victory. The result was Trajan’s Column, a 110 foot memorial which tells the story of the Dacian War. On top of Trajan’s Column was a bronze statue of the emperor, which has been replaced by a statue of St. Peter. Trajan not only built a column in Rome, but an entire Forum. Trajan’s Forum, called the Forum Ulpium in Latin, contained a basilica and a series of markets which were built into the sides of the Capitoline and Quirinal Hills. In the annals of Roman history, Trajan is known as Optimus Princeps (the best emperor). His reign ushered in the high point of the Pāx Rōmāna. In later years coins were minted in ancient Rome with the phrase felicior Augustō, melior Trāiānō—“more fortunate than Augustus, better than Trajan.” When Trajan died in 117 A.D., the Roman Empire was at its greatest territorial extent.