Trajan: Roman Emperor

Trajan was a successful soldier who became consul in AD 91 and was adopted by the childless Emperor Nerva in 97. He succeeded to the imperial throne in the following year.

Unfortunately this period lacks contemporary historical writings and much of our evidence for this era comes from non-literary sources. However for the time of Trajan we have the letters exchanged between the emperor and the younger Pliny, preserved as Book Ten in Pliny's Collected Letters.

He conquered Dacia (Romania) 101 - 107 and much of Parthia (113 - 117), bringing the empire to its greatest extent.

Trajan's Column, erected in the Forum he had constructed, commemorate his Dacian victories.

At home, Trajan did much to improve agriculture, and education for poor children. Trajan built a number of public buildings in Rome and a new harbor on the Tiber River. He repaired and extended imperial roads and frontier fortifications.

Trajan is acknowledged as one of the truly great men of antiquity. His ability as a soldier and an administrator was outstanding; his purpose at all times was the welfare of his subjects.

His public benefactions included a much improved water supply, several important roads, a number of libraries (notably the Bibliotheca Ulpia), baths on the Esquiline and, above all, the magnificent Forum Traianum, amid the ruins of which stands a column, once the repository of his ashes. His one error was the attack on Parthia, as is shown by Hadrian's immediate surrender of most of the territory gained.