| Statue of Trajan | |
|---|---|
 The statue in 2010 | |
 | |
| Year | 1980 (1980) (erected) |
| Medium | Bronze sculpture |
| Subject | Trajan |
| Location | London, United Kingdom |
| Coordinates | 51°30′36″N0°04′34″W / 51.509875°N 0.076174°W /51.509875; -0.076174 |
Thestatue of Trajan is an outdoor twentieth-centurybronze sculpture depicting the Roman EmperorTrajan, located in front of a section of theLondon Wall built by Romans, atTower Hill inLondon, United Kingdom.[1]
Trajan is shown bareheaded and wearing a tunic,[1] holding a scroll in his left hand while gesturing with his right hand raised.[2]
A plaque at its base contains the inscription:
STATUE BELIEVED TO BE OF THE ROMAN EMPEROR TRAJAN/ A.D. 98–117/ IMPERATOR CAESAR NERVA TRAJANUS AUGUSTUS/ PRESENTED BY THE TOWER HILL IMPROVEMENT TRUST AT THE/ REQUEST OF THE REVEREND P. B. CLAYTON, CH, MC, DD, /FOUNDER PADRE OFTOC H.[2][3]
The statue was installed in 1980 as a bequest fromP. B. "Tubby" Clayton, the vicar ofAll Hallows-by-the-Tower.[1][4] TheMuseum of London 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.[5] There is no information presented at the site about the sculptor.[2]
It is a cast of a late 1st century statue found inMinturno, which is on display at theNational Archaeological Museum in Naples.[6] The upper part of the head is the result of restoration;[7][original research?] other casts are inRome (at thevia dei Fori Imperiali andMuseum of Roman Civilization),Ancona andBenevento.
Trajan presided over the second-greatest military expansion in Roman history, afterAugustus, leading the empire to attain its maximum territorial extent by the time of his death. He never himself visited Britain.[4]
