Trajan (98 - 117 AD)
Family and Background
Son of Ulpius Trajan, a leading supporter of Vespasian, his family was
descended from Italian immigrants who had settled at Italica in Spain.
Praetor some time before 87, he led legions from Spain to support
Domitian at the time of Saturninus' revolt in 89. He was consul
ordinarius (a great honor) in 91. In 96 he was in command of the
legions of upper Germany when Domitian was murdered. He was adopted
by Nerva in the wake of a riot by the praetorian guard in January 97,
and given equal powers to Nerva in October of that year.
Principal Events (Foriegn)
- Campaigns in Germany (97-8)
- Campaign on the Danube (98-99)
- First conquest of Dacia (101-102)
- Suppression of Dacian revolt, final organization of Dacia as a province (105-7)
- Annexation of the province of Arabia (106)
- Beginning of campaign against Parthia (113)
- Capture of Parthian capital of Ctesiphon (116)
- Beginning of revolt in Upper Mesopotamia (117)
Principal Events (Domestic)
- Return to Rome (99)
- Completion of the rebuilding of the circus maximus in marble (103)
- Construction of the aqua Traiana (a new aqueduct) at Rome (109)
- Completion of a road through the Pomptine marshes (110)
- Completion of reconstruction of the port at Ostia (113)
- Beginning of the great Jewish revolt in Egypt, Cyrenaica, Cyprus and Palestine (116)
- Death at Selinus in Cilicia (August 11, 117)
Outlines of Policy
We can gain a fair picture of Trajan as an administrator from the
letters of the younger Pliny (especially those of 110-112, which Pliny
sent as governor of Bithynia). From these it appears that he was a
consciencious administrator who tried hard to control various
obnoxious tendencies among his subjects (such as their tendency to use
the imperial judicial system to eliminate each other) and paid a good
deal of attention to the general welfare of the provinces, especially
in so far as he could enhance the imperial system of communication
(there are numerous projects attributable to his reign throughout the
empire in addition to the works listed in the summary of his domestic
policy). His greatest reputation, however, was as a soldier, and his
reign saw the greatest geographical extension of the empire. The
final war with Parthia may have conceived in overly grandiose terms,
but still ranks as one of Rome's greatest military successes even
though most of the gains were very shortlived. The extent of his
building projects at Rome suggest that he was at pains to conciliate
the opinions of the Roman plebs (possibly because he had a very
tenuous claim to the throne in 97). He was also the first emperor to
advertize imperial ideology extensively through his titulature. The
oddest feature of his reign may be his unwillingness to name an heir
until the week of his death (if then--there was some suspicion that
this was actually the work of his wife after he had died).
Further Reading
Cassius Dio, History of Rome, 68;
Pliny the Younger, Letters and Panygeric;
A. Garzetti, From Tiberius to the Antonines;
R. Syme, Tacitus;
F. Millar, The Roman Near East.