IVSTITIA: UN PRINCIPIO ASTRATTO RINTRACCIABILE NELL’ICONOGRAFIA DEI FREGI DEGLI AMBIENTI GIUDIZIARI NEL FORO DI TRAIANO A ROMA?

Abstract

The analyze of the iconographic items of the friezes displayed in the spaces assigned to the celebration of judgments within the
Forum of Trajan, the Basilica Ulpia and the hemicycles on the sides of the square, aims to point out the elements, derived from
Augustan propaganda schemes, useful for the representation of Trajan as Optimus Princeps, semper victor and restitutor of the values
of an enlightened government also through the ethical application of law under the sign of Aequitas and Iustitia. These ideals, in the
wake of the nemesian values of justice, could have represented the common denominator and the added value underlying the different
figurative items decorating the spaces assigned to judgments. Without taking anything away from the primary symbolism of these archetypes,
but rather in consideration of their increasing conceptual complexity, they may have expanded their message to the virtutes
of the emperor directly reliable to his legal activity.