Trajan

Definition

Trajan was a Roman Emperor, and the second of the “five good emperors,” who reigned from 98 CE until his death in 117 CE. Trajan served as a general in the Roman army and helped to crush the revolt of Antonius Saturninus in 89 CE. He also led military campaigns in Dacia and Parthia, which contributed to the first large-scale expansion of Roman territory since Augustus. Born into a non-patrician family, he rose to prominence during the reign of Emperor Domitian. He was adopted by Domitian’s successor, Nerva, an unpopular and childless senator, and became Emperor after Nerva’s death in 98 CE.

Trajan is best known for his extensive public building program, which reshaped the city of Rome and left multiple enduring landmarks such as Trajan's Forum, Trajan's Market and, most famously, Trajan's Column. Trajan’s Column is one of the most recognized monuments of ancient Rome. This 98-foot tall column contains a frieze commemorating Trajan’s victory in Dacia. Trajan’s ashes were buried under its square base.

Trajan is also well-known as the “optimus princeps,” or the “best emperor.” There are many surviving records of his correspondence with Pliny the Younger, and he is universally praised by ancient sources for his benevolent personality and accomplishments. It was under Trajan’s rule that Tacitus was able to write his famous histories of Rome.

Trajan died of a stroke in 117 CE and was succeeded by his adoptive son, Hadrian.

Written by Steven Fife, published on 28 April 2011 under the following license: Creative Commons: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike. This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon this content non-commercially, as long as they credit the author and license their new creations under the identical terms.

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Illustrations

Trajan Books

• The Ancient City: Life in Classical Athens and Rome Peter Connolly Oxford University Press, USA (18 May 2000) Price: $24.26

• Agricola and Germany Tacitus Oxford University Press, USA (23 September 1999) Currently unavailable

• The Sarmatians 600 BC-AD 450 Richard Brzezinski Osprey Publishing (19 August 2002) Price: $13.50

• Roman Legionary Fortresses 27 BC-AD 378 Duncan Campbell Osprey Publishing (25 April 2006) Price: $17.06

• Germania Tacitus Oxford University Press, USA (29 November 1999) Price: $54.39