Trajan's Column

After the Second Dacian War, sometime between the year 106 and the year 113, Trajan's Column was built within Trajan's Forum. Both were built in honor of the emperor, to celebrate his victories in Dacia (present-day Romania). Made of granite, the column depicts a history of Rome through architectural carvings of battles and victory. A statue of Trajan was originally at the top of the column, but it disappeared in the Middle Ages and was replaced by one of St. Peter. The column was built to be a vantage point for the city of Rome, and stands thirty meters high. The main architect was Apollodurus of Damascus, who built many other things within the Trajan Forum. This was his magnum opus, his greatest work, because of the spiral frieze that tells the story of the two Dacian wars adorning the column. Trajan erected it in order to share his wealth from the wars with the people in a way that would last. His wife's and his ashes were placed at the bottom of the column upon their deaths, but they are no longer there.

http://www.architecturecourses.org/trajans-column-and-forum