Trajan
:
Marcus Ulpius Nerva Traianus (
September 18,
53 –
August 9,
117),
Roman Emperor (
98-
117), commonly called
Trajan, was the second of the
Five Good Emperors of the
Roman Empire. Under his rule, the Empire reached its greatest territorial extent.
Early life and rise to power
Trajan was the son of Marcia and
Marcus Ulpius Traianus, a prominent
senator and general from the famous
gens Ulpia. The family had settled in the province of
Hispania Baetica in what is now
Andalusia, a province that was thoroughly Romanized and called southern
Hispania. Trajan himself was just one of many well-known Ulpii in a line that continued long after his own death. His elder sister was
Ulpia Marciana and his niece was
Salonina Matidia.
He was born on
September 18 53, in the city of
Italica. As a young man, he rose through the ranks of the
Roman army, serving in some of the most contentious parts of the Empire's frontier. In 76 â€" 77, Trajan's father was
Governor of
Syria (
Legatus pro praetore Syriae), where Trajan himself remained as
Tribunus legionis. Trajan was nominated as
Consul and brought
Apollodorus of Damascus with him to
Rome around 91.Along the
Rhine River, he took part in the Emperor
Domitian's wars well under Domitian's successor,
Nerva, who was unpopular with the army and needed to do something to gain their support. He accomplished this by naming Trajan as his adoptive son and successor in the summer of 97. It was the future Emperor
Hadrian who brought word to Trajan of his adoption, and thus had Trajan's favour for the rest of his life. When Nerva died on
January 27 98, the highly respected Trajan succeeded without incident, making him the first non-
Italian Roman to become Emperor.
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As issued by the Roman Senate, to the "Optimus Princeps" Trajan. |
The new emperor was greeted by the people of Rome with great enthusiasm, which he justified by governing well and without the bloodiness that had marked Domitian's reign. He freed many people who had been unjustly imprisoned by Domitian and returned a great deal of private property that Domitian had confiscated; a process begun by Nerva before his death. His popularity was such that the
Roman Senate eventually bestowed upon Trajan the
honorific of
optimus, meaning "the best".
Dio Cassius reports that Trajan drank heavily and was a
pederast. "I know, of course, that he was devoted to boys and to wine, but if he had ever committed or endured any base or wicked deed as the result of this, he would have incurred censure; as it was, however, he drank all the wine he wanted, yet remained sober, and in his relation with boys he harmed no one." (Dio Cassius, Epitome of Book LXVIII; 6.4) This sensibility was one that influenced even his governing, leading him to favour the king of Edessa out of appreciation for his handsome son: "On this occasion, however, [Abgarus,] induced partly by the persuasions of his son Arbandes, who was handsome and in the pride of youth and therefore in favour with Trajan, and partly by his fear of the latter's presence, he met him on the road, made his apologies and obtained pardon, for he had a powerful intercessor in the boy." (ibid. 21.2-3).
Dacian Wars
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Roman Monument for the Victory at the Adamclisi, in present day Romania |
But it was as a military commander that Trajan is best known to history. In
101, he launched a punitive expedition into the kingdom of
Dacia, on the northern bank of the
Danube River, defeating the Dacian army near
Tapae. During the following winter
Decebalus launched a counter-attack across the
Danube further downstream, but this was repulsed. Trajan's army advanced further into Dacian territory and forced King Decebalus to submit to him a year later, after Trajan took the Dacian capital of
Sarmizegethusa.
Domitian had campaigned against Dacia from 85 to 89 without securing a decisive outcome, and Decebalus had brazenly flouted the terms of the peace which had been agreed on conclusion of this campaign. Trajan then returned to Rome in triumph and was granted the title
Dacicus Maximus. The victory is celebrated by
Tropaeum Traiani.
Decebalus though, after being left to his own devices, in
105 undertook an invasion against Roman territory by attempting to stir up some of the tribes north of the river against her. Trajan took to the field again and after building with the design of
Apollodorus of Damascus his
massive bridge over the Danube, he conquered Dacia completely in
106. Sarmizegethusa was destroyed,
Decebalus committed
suicide, and his severed head was exhibited in Rome on the steps leading up to the
Capitol. Trajan built a new city, "Colonia Ulpia Traiana Augusta Dacica Sarmizegethusa", on another site than the previous Dacian Capital, although bearing the same name, Sarmizegethusa. He resettled Dacia with Romans and annexed it as a province of the Roman Empire. Trajan's Dacian campaigns benefited the Empire's finances through the conquest of Dacia's gold mines.
Expansion in the East
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Coin showing the Forum of Trajan. |
|
Roman Empire in 116, at its maximum extent. |
At about the same time, one of Rome's client kings, the last king of
Nabatea,
Rabbel II Soter, died. This might have prompted Trajan's annexation of Nabatea, although the reasons for annexation are not known, nor is the exact manner of annexation. Some epigraphic evidence suggests a military operation, with forces from
Syria and
Aegyptus. What is clear, however, is that by
107, Roman legions were stationed in the area around
Petra and
Bostra, as is shown by a papyri found in Egypt. The Empire gained what became the province of
Arabia Petraea (modern southern
Jordan and north west
Saudi Arabia).
Period of peace
For the next seven years, Trajan ruled as a civilian emperor, to the same acclaim as before. It was during this time that he corresponded with
Pliny the Younger on the subject of how to deal with the
Christians of
Pontus, telling Pliny to leave them alone unless they were openly practicing the religion. He built several new buildings, monuments and roads in
Italia and his native
Hispania. His magnificent complex in Rome raised to commemorate his victories in
Dacia (and largely financed from that campaign's loot) - consisting of a
forum,
Trajan's Column, and
a shopping centre - still stands in Rome today. He was also
a prolific builder of triumphal arches, many of which survive, and rebuilder of roads (
Via Traiana and
Via Traiana Nova).
One notable act of Trajan was the hosting of a three-month
gladiatorial festival in the great
Colosseum in Rome (the precise date of this festival is unknown). Combining chariot racing, beast fights and close-quarters gladiatorial bloodshed, this gory spectacle reputedly left 11,000 dead (mostly Jewish slaves and criminals, not to mention the thousands of ferocious beasts killed alongside them) and attracted a total of five million spectators over the course of the festival.
Maximum extent of the Empire
In
113, he embarked on his last campaign, provoked by
Parthia's decision to put an unacceptable king on the throne of
Armenia, a kingdom over which the two great empires had shared
hegemony since the time of
Nero some fifty years earlier. Trajan marched first on Armenia, deposed the king and annexed it to the Roman Empire. Then he turned south into Parthia itself, taking the cities of
Babylon,
Seleucia and finally the capital of
Ctesiphon in
116. He continued southward to the
Persian Gulf, whence he declared
Mesopotamia a new province of the Empire and lamented that he was too old to follow in the steps of
Alexander the Great.
But he did not stop there. Later in 116, he captured the great city of
Susa. He deposed the Parthian king
Osroes I and put his own puppet ruler
Parthamaspates on the throne. Never again would the Roman Empire advance so far to the east.
It was at this point that the fortunes of war — and his own health — betrayed Trajan. The fortress city of
Hatra, on the
Tigris in his rear, continued to hold out against repeated Roman assaults. He was personally present at the
siege and it is possible that he suffered a heat stroke while in the blazing heat. The
Jews inside the Roman Empire rose up in rebellion once more, as did the people of Mesopotamia. Trajan was forced to withdraw his army in order to put down the revolts. Trajan saw it as simply a temporary setback, but he was destined never to command an army in the field again, turning his Eastern armies over to the high ranking legate and governor of Judaea Brinius Carnix Maximus.
Late in 116, Trajan grew ill and set out to sail back to Italy. His health declined throughout the spring and summer of
117, and by the time he had reached
Selinus in
Cilicia which was afterwards called Trajanopolis, he suddenly died from
edema on August 9. Some say that he had adopted
Hadrian as his successor, but others that it was his wife
Pompeia Plotina who hired someone to impersonate him after he had died.
Hadrian, upon becoming ruler, returned Mesopotamia to Parthian rule. However, all the other territories conquered by Trajan were retained.
For the remainder of the history of the Roman Empire and well into the era of the
Byzantine Empire, every new emperor after Trajan was honoured by the Senate with the prayer
felicior Augusto, melior Traiano, meaning "may he be luckier than
Augustus and better than Trajan".
Unlike many lauded rulers in history, Trajan's reputation has survived undiminished for nearly nineteen centuries. The
Christianization of Rome resulted in further embellishment of his legend: it was commonly said in
medieval times that
Pope Gregory I, through divine intercession, resurrected Trajan from the dead and baptized him into the Christian faith. An account of this features in the
Golden Legend. Theologians, such as
Thomas Aquinas, discussed Trajan as an example of a virtuous pagan. In
the Divine Comedy,
Dante, following this legend, sees the spirit of Trajan in the Heaven of
Jupiter with other historical and mythological persons noted for their justice. He also features in
Piers Plowman.
*
Trajan's Market*
Trophaeum Traiani*
Trajan's Column*
Trajan's bridge* J.F.C. Fuller.
A Military History of the Western World. Three Volumes. New York: Da Capo Press, Inc., 1987 and 1988.
** v. 1.
From the earliest times to the Battle of Lepanto; ISBN 0306803046: 255, 266, 269, 270, 273 (Trajan, Roman Emperor).
* Ancell, R. Manning. "Soldiers."
Military Heritage. December 2001. Volume 3, No. 3: 12, 14, 16, 20 (Trajan, Emperor of Rome).
*Bennett, J., Trajan: Optimus Princeps
, 2nd Edition, Routledge 2001
*Bowersock, G.W., Roman Arabia
, Harvard University Press, 1983
*Isaac, B., The Limits of Empire
, The Roman Army in the East, Revised Edition, Oxford University Press, 1990
*Kennedy, D., The Roman Army in Jordan'', Revised Edition, Council for British Research in the Levant, 2004
