The conspirators had been shrewd enough to designate a successor, Marcus Coc-ceius Nerva, an elderly senator of impeccable lineage whose career had been one of modest achievement but whose geniality and mildness had offended no one. It was felt he could be trusted to deal well with the senate and provide a period of calm after the terror of Domitian’s last years. He succeeded. He was conciliatory and unobtrusive, attempting in his short reign to stabilize the empire’s finances and restore good working relations between the emperor, senate, and people of Italy (whose tax burden he seems to have lightened). Whether he would have survived in the long term is more questionable and his wisest move was to have a strong successor already adopted as his son and installed as joint emperor by the time of his death in January 98. The possibility of adopting a male heir when there was no legitimate one was an important development although it did not supplant the preference of emperors to found a dynasty if an heir existed.
The new emperor was Marcus Ulpius Traianus, known to history as Trajan. Trajan’s family was not unknown among the ruling families of Rome, as his father had been a consul and governor of Syria, but its origins were not Italian but long-established settler stock in Spain. His accession marked a further widening of the circle from which emperors could be drawn and once again the choice proved more than justified. Trajan was to be extolled down the ages as the ideal emperor, the monarch that medieval rulers took as their example. He intertwined respect for the emperor with that for the traditional gods of Rome. He adopted Hercules, with his image of perpetual labour for the good of the community, as his model but also allowed himself to be portrayed on his coins with Jupiter. Temples to Jupiter built in his reign typically also display a dedication to the emperor. (Julian Bennett, Trajan: Optimus Princeps, 2nd edition, London, 2001.)
When he was appointed emperor Trajan was governor of Upper Germany and it is interesting that he lingered there for over a year before returning to Rome. Ostensibly he was securing the borders but he was probably boosting his reputation as a military commander, now that that seemed an essential attribute of a successful emperor. (It would give him prestige with the senators and the support of troops who could effectively forestall a challenge to him.) It was a sign, too, that the business of an emperor was no longer necessarily centred on Rome. Trajan marks the shift towards the emperor as one who is expected to confront Rome’s enemies in person. He was back again in the north for the winter of 98-9 and then again in 101 to launch an invasion of Dacia.
The senator Pliny, who had shared the common hatred of his class for Domitian, rejoiced at this new emperor and eulogized him for the efficient way he dealt with his business:
We see how he meets the desires of the provinces and even the requests of individual cities. He makes no difficulty about giving them a hearing or delaying in replying. They come into his presence promptly and are dismissed promptly, and at last the emperor’s doors are no longer besieged by a mob of embassies who have been shut out. (Translation: Betty Radice)
A famous correspondence between Trajan and Pliny, when the latter was governor of Bithynia and Pontus, illustrates Trajan’s attention to the smallest detail. He shows no irritation in dealing with a range of queries. He was assiduous in intervening in the affairs of cities, settling disputes and telling them how to arrange their affairs. He was in fact a paternalist, and the most famous example of his concern is the system of alimenta instituted by him in Italy. Farmers could apply for loans from the imperial treasury at 5 per cent interest (instead of the usual 12 per cent). The interest was then placed in a special account and used to pay for grain rations for the children of the poor.
Trajan also proved to be the last great conqueror of the Roman empire. His reasons for extending Roman rule over Dacia, the kingdom north of the Danube, and into Parthia, where he added two new provinces to the empire, may be linked
Fig. 7 The Imperial Fora. Trajan used the plunder of his Dacian campaign to construct an enormous new Forum, complete with basilica and library, to the north of those fora already constructed in memory of Caesar (Forum lulium) and by Augustus to commemorate his victories. Key (selected). Mamertime Prison. 4: Senate House. 9: Temple of Divus Antoninus (ad 140).
17: Temple of Minerva. 19-20: Exhedras of Augustus’ Forum. 12, 15: Park and main hall of Temple of Peace (inaugurated ad 75, rebuilt 190s). 21: Temple of Mars Ultor. 31-2: Exedra and Porticus of Trajan’s Forum. 33-4: Trajan’s Libraries.
To his desire to enhance his military reputation. However, the campaigns were also justifiable on the grounds that both kingdoms offered a threat to Rome. Decabalus was still set on revenge for his defeat by Domitian and probably no emperor could have left him unchallenged. Trajan fought two wars in Dacia, in 101-2 and 105-6. The first war ended in an armed truce, the second in the complete defeat of the Dacians. Decabalus’ royal palace was sacked, he himself was killed, and his head sent back in triumph to Rome. Following it was plunder in silver and gold on a scale reminiscent of the great republican conquests. Scenes from the campaign—the bridging of the Danube, the assault on the Dacian capital, the setting up of camp— are portrayed on Trajan’s column, which still stands in Rome. It provides the most vivid picture to survive of the Roman army in action but also highlights the emperor as imperator, the victorious general. Dacia was incorporated as a province in 106 and the Transylvanian plain soon attracted settlers.
In the east Trajan had strengthened the frontier in 106 by incorporating Nabataea into the empire as the new province of Arabia. The Nabataeans, an Arabic people, had cornered the luxury trade of the Arabian desert, myrrh, frankincense, and spices, and had grown rich on it. Their capital, Petra, remains one of the most fascinating cities of the ancient empire. Nestling in a hollow in the hills close to the main trade route between Aqaba and Gaza on the Mediterranean coast, their king Aretas IV (9 bc-ad 40), a client king of the empire, had carved an astonishing range of buildings out of the multi-coloured rock and the city was served by a sophisticated water system that allowed the limited and irregular rainfall of the region to be channelled into reservoirs.
When a new dispute with Parthia over Armenia arose in 110 the extension of the empire’s border made an invasion of Parthia all the easier. Whether the emperor, now buoyed up by his success in Dacia, was simply after glory (as the original sources suggest) or whether he was prudently aiming at the cowing of another enemy of Rome remains disputed. In its early days the campaign was a success. Armenia was overrun and made into a province and then Trajan extended Roman control over Mesopotamia, established as another province, and further south towards the Persian Gulf. As with other Roman commanders Trajan’s model was Alexander, and when at the end of his Parthian campaign (116) he reached the mouth of the Euphrates he is said to have wept that he could go no further and equal the exploits of his hero. It was simply not feasible to do so. The newly incorporated territories were restless and there was also trouble elsewhere in the empire, tribal uprisings in Britain, a Jewish rebellion, and unrest on the lower Danube. In any case Trajan was ailing. He died in 117.
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