material culture exercise five
Scroll through the 12 slides and read the captions at the beginning of this article: note how often Trajan is presented (a totally of 58 times, though not all of them show up). Once you have a feeling for the progression of the slides, work your way through them a second time, spending at least five minutes on each slide. Look at the images very carefully, taking notes on what information they convey.
Where do we today have examples of Bildsprache – language through images, with or without words? How do these examples work to convey their messages?
Can you tell who are the Romans, and who are the Dacians?
What do you notice about dress?
Can you see any women, and what are they doing?
Are the Romans clearly depicted as winning and the Dacians as losing in every slide?
What kind of information do the slides give you about architecture, war machinery, and the natural environment? Why do you think this information was included?