Per Aspera Ad Astra Trajan's Column T-Shirt | Through Hardship to the Stars

Trajan's Column has stood in Rome since AD 113. Its marble frieze spirals 23 times up the shaft, carved with some 2,500 figures telling the story of the emperor's wars in Dacia: legions on the march, forts, bridges and battles. The Latin motto per aspera ad astra, through hardships to the stars, could serve as its caption.

This design imagines the column carrying the story on. Its spiral bands rise from Roman legionaries marching past a palisade gate to medieval masons raising a Gothic cathedral, then a printing press, then a steam locomotive. At the very top, where a statue would stand, a rocket lifts off into the night sky in a burst of golden fire. Two thousand years of European work and invention, carved one band at a time and still climbing.

Choose your shirt

• Heavyweight: Comfort Colors 1717, 6.1 oz (206 g/m²) ring-spun cotton, garment-dyed for a soft, lived-in feel. Relaxed unisex fit; size down for a closer fit.
• Classic: Gildan 5000, 5.3 oz (180 g/m²) 100% cotton. Regular unisex fit. The same print, for less.

Printed to order: in the EU (Riga) for European orders, in the US for American ones.

Care: wash cold inside out, tumble dry low or hang dry, do not iron the print.