Trajan Imperator Caesar Nerva Trajanus Divi Nervae filius Augustus ; September 18 -Ã, 8 Ã, August 117 AD) was the Roman emperor from 98 to 117 Ã, AD. Officially declared by the Senate of Optimus princeps ("the best ruler"), Trajan is remembered as a successful emperor who led the greatest military expansion in Roman history, leading the empire to reach its maximum territory as far back as his death. He is also known for his philanthropic rule, overseeing broad public development programs and implementing social welfare policies, which earned him an eternal reputation as the second of the Five Good Emperors who led an era of peace and prosperity in the Mediterranean world.
Born in the city of Italica (close to modern Sevilla) in Hispania province Baetica, the non-patrician Trajan family comes from Italy and Iberia. Trajan became famous during the reign of the emperor Domitian. Serving as a legionist legionist in Hispania Tarraconensis, in 89 Trajan supported Domitian against the uprising on the Rhine led by Antonius Saturninus. In September 96, Domitian was replaced by Marcus Cocceius Nerva, an old senator and no children who proved unpopular among soldiers. After a brief and tumultuous year in power, culminating in an uprising by Praetorian Guard members, Nerva was forced to adopt the more popular Trajan as his successor and successor. He died in January 98 and was replaced by his adopted son without incident.
As a civil administrator, Trajan is renowned for its extensive public development program, which reshapes the city of Rome and leaves many eternal landmarks such as Trajan's Forum, Trajan's Market, and Trajan's Column. At the beginning of his reign, he annexed the Nabataean Kingdom, creating the province of Arabia Petraea. His conquest of Dacia greatly enriched the empire, because the new province had many valuable gold mines.
The Trajan War against the Parthian Empire ended with the sacking of the capital Ctesiphon and the annexation of Armenia and Mesopotamia. His campaign expanded the Roman Empire to its largest territory. At the end of 117, when sailing back to Rome, Trajan fell ill and died of a stroke in the town of Selinus. He was deified by the Senate and his ashes were laid to rest under the Trajan Column. He was succeeded by his adopted son Hadrian.
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As an emperor, Trajan's reputation has survived - he is one of the few rulers whose reputation has survived for nineteen centuries. Every new emperor after he was honored by the Senate with the wishes of felicior Augusto, melior Traiano (that he was "luckier than Augustus and better than Trajan"). Among medieval Christian theologians, Trajan is regarded as a pious idolater. In the Renaissance, Machiavelli, speaking of the advantages of the succession of adoption of heredity, mentions the five successful emperors "from Nerva to Marcus" -a allegory from which the 18th-century historian Edward Gibbon popularized the idea of ​​the Good Five Emperors, among them the Trajan second.
As far as the sources of ancient literature are concerned, an ongoing story of the Trajan government does not exist. An account of Dacian Wars, the Commentarii de bellis Dacicis , written by Trajan himself or an author for others and modeled after Caesar Commentarii de Bello Gallico , disappears with the exception one sentence. Only fragments are left of GetikÃÆ'¡ , a book by Trajan's private doctor, Titos Statilios Kriton. The ParthikÃÆ'¡ , a 17-volume account from Parthian Wars written by Arrian, has met the same fate. The book Ã, 68 in Cassius Dio's Roman History , which survives largely as a Byzantine complement and epitomes, is a major source for the political history of the Trajan government. In addition, Pliny the Younger Panegyricus and Dio of Prusa's orations are the best contemporary source that still exists. They are a pereda peroration, typical of the late Roman era, which portrays idealized kings and idealistic views of the Trajan rules, and more concerned themselves with ideology than with actual facts. The ten volumes of Pliny's letters contain correspondence with Trajan, which dealt with various aspects of Roman imperial rule, but this correspondence is not intimate or indirect: this is the exchange of official letters, where Pliny's attitude borders on slaves. It is certain that many of the letters that appear in this collection above Trajan's signature are written and/or edited by Imperial Trajan secretary, ab epistulis . Therefore, the discussion of Trajan and its government in modern historiography can not avoid speculation, as well as non-literary resources such as archeology and epigraphy.
Maps Trajan
Beginning of life and rising to electricity
Marcus Ulpius Traianus was born on 18 September 53 AD in the Roman province of Hispania Baetica (in what is now Andalusia in modern Spain), in the city of Italica (now in the municipality of Santiponce, on the outskirts of Seville). Though often appointed as the first emperor of the province, and dismissed by later writers such as Cassius Dio (himself from provincial origin) as "Iberian, and not Italian or even Italiot", Trajan seems to have praised his father's side of the area. Tuder (modern Todi) in Umbria, on the border with Etruria, and on his mother's side from Gens Marcia, from the Italic family of Sabine. The birthplace of Trajan from Italica was established as a Roman colony of Italian settler settlers [206] BC, though it is not known when Ulpii arrived there. It is possible, but it can not be proved, that Trajan ancestors married local women and lost their citizenship at some point, but they certainly restored their status when the city became a municipality with Latin citizenship in the mid-1st century BC.
Trajan is the son of Marcia, a Roman noblewoman and brother-in-law of the second Emperor Flavian Titus, and Marcus Ulpius Traianus, a prominent senator and general of the Ulpia gens. The oldest Marcus Ulpius Traianus served Vespasian in the First Jewish-Roman War, ordering Legio X Fretensis . Trajan itself is just one of the many famous Ulpii in the queue that lasted long after his own death. Her sister is Ulpia Marciana, and her niece is Salonina Matidia. The patria of Ulpii is Italica, in Spanish Baetica, where their ancestors had settled in the late 3rd century Ã, .
As a young man, he climbed into the Roman army, serving in some of the closest parts of the Empire's borders. In 76-77, Trajan's father was the Syrian governor ( Legatus pro praetore Syriae ), where Trajan himself remained as the
In 91, Trajan created the regular Consul for the year, which was a great honor because he was in his late thirties and therefore just above the legal minimum age (32) for holding the post. This may be partially explained by the excellence of his father's career, for his father had played an important role in the ascent of the ruling Flavian dynasty, who held consular positions and had just become a noble. Around this time, Trajan took Apollodorus from Damascus with him to Rome. and also married Pompeia Plotina, a noble lady from the Roman settlement of NÃÆ'®mes; marriage finally remains without children.
It has been suggested by later writers (among them the late Trajan successor, Julian) that Trajan is personally inclined towards homosexuality, far exceeding the usual bisexual activity among the upper-class Romans of that period. Although Julian's scathing remarks on this issue reflect changes to customs beginning with the Severan dynasty, an earlier writer, Cassius Dio, has already made references to Trajan's personal preferences marked for male gender. Lovers of Trajan lovers include Hadrian, imperial home page, Pylades actors, dancers called Apolaustus, Lucius Licinius Sura, and Nerva.
Because the details of Trajan's military career are unclear, it is only certain that in 89, as the Legali VII Gemina in Hispania Tarraconensis, he supported Domitian against the coup attempt of the coup. Then, after 91 consulates (held with Acilius Glabrio, a pair of rare consuls at the time, as there were no consuls who were members of the ruling dynasty), he held several consular commissions not specified as governors of Pannonia or Germania SuperiorÃ, , maybe both. Pliny-who seems to deliberately avoid offering details that would emphasize the personal attachment between Trajan and his tyrannical Domitian attributes to him, at that time, various (and unspecified) weapons achievements.
Because Domitian's successor, Nerva, was unpopular with the army and was recently forced by Praetorian Prefect Casperius Aelianus to execute Domitian's killer, he felt the need to gain military support not to be overthrown. He completed this in the summer of 97 by naming Trajan as his adopted son and successor, who allegedly rely solely on Trajan's military superiority. There are clues, however, in the contemporary literary sources that the adoption of Trajan is imposed on Nerva. Pliny implies that when he wrote it, though an emperor could not be forced to do anything, if this was the way in which Trajan was raised to power, then it was worth it. If this is what really happens, Trajan will be a usurper, and the idea of ​​a natural continuity between Nerva and the Trajan government will be a fiction of ex post developed by historians such as Tacitus.
According to History of Augustan , it is the future of Emperor Hadrian who brought news to Trajan from his adoption. Hadrian was later retained on the Rhine border by Trajan as a military tribune, becoming a secret to his circle of friends and a relationship with Trajan that surrounded him among those who later governors Germania Inferior, Lucian Licinius Sura, who would become Trajan's personal chief advisor and official friend. As a sign of its influence, Sura will then become consul for the third time in 107. Some ancient sources also tell of him having built a bath named at the Aventine Hills in Rome, or after this bath was built by Trajan and later named after him, in both cases , a signal of honor as the only exception to the established rule that public buildings in the capital can be dedicated only to members of the imperial family. These baths were later expanded by the 3rd century empire, Decius as a means of emphasizing its relationship with Trajan. Sura is also described telling Hadrian in 108 about his election as the heir of the empire. According to a modern historian, Sura's role as kingmaker and à ‰  © grence grence is deeply despised by some senators, especially the historian Tacitus, who recognizes the military goodness and Sura speech, but at the same time hates his possessions and his cunning ways, similar to Vespasian's ÃÆ'  © minence grise Licinius Mucianus.
When Nerva died on 27 January 98, Trajan succeeded in becoming the emperor's role with no outward incident. However, the fact that he chose not to rush to Rome, but instead to conduct a long inspection tour on the Rhine and Danube borders, hinted at the possible fact that his position of power in Rome is uncertain and that he must first convince himself. allegiance of soldiers in front. It should be noted that Trajan ordered the Prefect of Aelian to be present in Germany, where he appeared to be executed ("removed"), with his post taken by Attius Suburanus. Accession Trajan, therefore, can qualify more as a successful coup d'etat than a regular succession.
Roman Emperor
When he entered Rome, Trajan gave money directly to the plebs. Traditional donations for troops, however, are halved. There were still tense relations between the emperor and the Senate, especially after the alleged gloom that marked the Domitian government and its relationship with the Curia. By pretending to be reluctant to hold on to power, Trajan was able to start building consensus around him in the Senate. His late ceremonial record to Rome in the year 99 was a low key, something that Pliny Young had made clear.
By not openly supporting Domitian's preference for horsemen, Trajan seems to fit with the idea (developed by Pliny) that an emperor gained his legitimacy from his adherence to the traditional hierarchy and senatorial morale. Therefore, he can show the allegedly republican character of his government. In a speech at the inauguration of his third consulate, on January 1, 100, Trajan urged the Senate to share Imperial care with him an event then celebrated with coins. In fact, Trajan does not share power in a meaningful way with the Senate, something that Pliny acknowledges openly: "[E] depends heavily on the wishes of one man who, in the name of common prosperity, has taken over all his own functions and all the duties". One of the most important trends of his administration was his encroachment within the scope of the Senate authorities, such as his decision to make the provincial senators of Achaea and Bitinia imperial to deal with massive expenditures for public works by local figures and mismanagement of provincial affairs by various governors designated by the Senate.
In the formula developed by Pliny, however, Trajan is the "good" emperor in that, by himself, he approves or blames the same thing that will be approved or blamed by the Senate. If in reality Trajan is an autocrat, his respectful behavior towards his colleagues makes him worthy of being seen as a virtuous king. The whole idea is that Trajan uses autocratic forces through moderatio instead of contumacia Ã,-moderation rather than irreverence. In short, according to the ethics for autocracy developed by most political writers from the Roman Empire, Trajan is a good ruler because he is less controlled by fear, and more by acting as a role model, because, according to Pliny, "men learn better than example ".
Finally, Trajan's popularity among his colleagues was such that the Roman Senate conferred on him the honor of optimus , meaning "the best", which appeared on a coin of 105 on. This title mostly relates to Trajan's role as a lender, as in the case he returned the seized property.
The ideal role of the Trajan is that the conservatives become clear from Pliny's works as well as from the Dio of the Prusa-especially the four Orations at Kingship, which were composed earlier during the reign of Trajan. Dio, as a prominent and intellectual Greek with friends in high places, and perhaps an official friend to the emperor ( amicus caesaris ), sees Trajan as a defender of the status quo . In his third oratory, Dio described the ideal ruler king through "friendship" - that is through patronage and network of local leaders acting as mediators between rulers and rulers. The idea of ​​Dio as a "friend" to Trajan (or other Roman emperors), however, is an informal arrangement that does not involve the entry of such "friends" into Roman government - precisely what it is to place the elite speaking Greek and Trajan on a collision course.
The Correctores : Greek/Roman relations
As a senatorial Emperor, Trajan tends to choose his local political support base among members of the ruling city oligarchy. In the West, it means the family of a local senator like his family. In the East, it means the family of Greek figures. The Greeks, though, have their own memories of independence and a commonly recognized sense of cultural superiority-and, instead of seeing themselves as Roman, undermined Roman rule. What the Greek oligarchs from Rome were, above all, left in peace, allowed to exercise their right to self-government (ie, to be excluded from provincial governments, such as Italy) and to concentrate on their local interests. This is something the Romans did not want to do because from their point of view Greek leaders avoided their responsibility in terms of managing the Empire's affairs mainly because of failing to keep ordinary people in control, thus creating a need for the Roman governor. to intervene.
An extraordinary example of this Greek alienation is the personal role played by Dio of Prusa in relation to Trajan. Dio is described by Philostratus as Trajan's close friend, and Trajan is considered to be involved in a public conversation with Dio. Nevertheless, as a local Greek figure with a taste for expensive development projects and pretense became an important political agent for Rome, Dio of Prusa was actually a target for one of Trajan's authoritarian innovations: the appointment of an imperial corridor to audit the civil finances of the city- a technically free Greek city. The ultimate goal is to limit excessive spending on public works that serve to channel the ancient rivalry between neighboring towns. As Pliny wrote to Trajan, this is the most visible consequence as a trace of unfinished or unkempt public utilities.
The rivalry between Greek cities and their oligarchic rulers was primarily to mark excellence, especially for the title given by the Roman emperor. Such titles are commanded in a ranking system that determines how the cities are treated outwardly by Rome. The usual form opposed by a competitor is a magnificent development plan, allowing cities to compete against each other on the "fancy, unnecessary ... structure that will make the show." The side effect of the extraordinary spending is that junior members and thus less wealthy than local oligarchs are reluctant to present themselves to fill the post as a local judge, a position involving increased personal costs.
The Roman authorities liked to play Greek cities against each other-something Dio of Prusa was fully aware of:
[B] their public acts [the Roman governors] have branded you as a bunch of fools, yeah, they treat you like children, because we often offer children the most trivial things in the place of the most precious things [...] In the place of justice, in place of the freedom of the cities of spoliation or from the confiscation of the private property of their inhabitants, in the place they refrain from insulting you [...] your governor hands you the title, and calls you 'first' either by word of mouth or written; done, they may start with immunity treating you as the last one! "
These same Roman rulers were also interested in ensuring the solvency of the cities and therefore prepared to take Imperial taxes. Last but not least, excessive spending on civilian buildings is not only a means of achieving local superiority, but also a means for the local Greek elite to maintain a separate cultural identity - something that is expressed in the contemporary revival of Second Sophistic; This "cultural patriotism" acts as a kind of substitute for the loss of political independence, and is thus shunned by Roman rulers. As Trajan himself wrote to Pliny: "These unfortunate Greeks like a gymnasium ... they must be content with one that fits their real needs".
The first known corrector was charged with a commission "to deal with the situation of free cities", because it was perceived that the old method of ad hoc intervention by the Emperor and/or the governors was not enough to curb the pretensions of Greek leaders. It should be noted that an embassy from the town of Dio in Prusa was not well received by Trajan, and that this relates to Dio's main objective, which is to elevate Prusa into the status of a free city, an independent "independent" state from paying taxes to Rome. Finally, Dio gets Prusa's right to be the head of the assize district, conventus (meaning that Prussia does not have to travel for judgment by the Roman governor), but eleutheria (freedom, in full political sense of autonomy) is rejected.
Finally, it fell to Pliny, as Bithynia governor at 110 AD, to deal with the consequences of the financial turmoil caused by Dio and his fellow civilian officials. "It is certain that [the city's finances] are in a state of chaos", Pliny once wrote to Trajan, plans for unnecessary work that were made in collusion with local contractors identified as one of the main problems. One of the compensation measures proposed by Pliny stated the conservative position of the Romans completely: because the financial solvency of the city depends on the wallet of board members, it is necessary to have more council members in the local city council. According to Pliny, the best way to achieve this is by lowering the minimum age to hold seats on the board, thus allowing more children from established oligarchic families to join and thus contribute to public spending; it is seen as better to enroll the newly disreputable rich man.
An increase in the number of such council members given to the town of Dio, Prusa, becomes anxious for existing council members who feel their status is being lowered. A similar situation occurred in Claudiopolis, where public baths were built with the result of entry fees paid by "supernumerary" members of the Council, registered with Trajan permission. Also, according to the Digest, its decision by Trajan that when a city judge promises to reach a particular public building, it is the duty of the heirs to finish the building.
Trajan familiarized himself with the Greek intellectual elite by summoning back to Rome many (including Dio) who had been exiled by Domitian, and by return (in the process initiated by Nerva) many of the private properties that Domitian confiscated. He also has a good relationship with Plutarch, who, as famous of Delphi, seems to have been favored by the decisions taken on behalf of his homes by one of the legions of Trajan, which has arbitration of border disputes between Delphi and its neighboring cities. However, it is clear to Trajan that the intellectuals and the Greeks should be regarded as a tool for local administration, and not allowed to privilege themselves in a privileged position. As Pliny put it in one of his letters at the time, it was the official policy that the Greek civil elite were treated according to their status as freely free but had no equal footing with their Roman rulers. When the city of Apamea complained of an audit of his account by Pliny, declaring "free" status as a Roman colony, Trajan responded by writing that it was his own desire that such inspections had been ordered. Concerns about independent local political activity seen in Trajan's decision to ban Nicomedia have firefighting corps ("If people gather for a common purpose ... they soon turn it into a political society", Trajan writes to Pliny) as well his fears and Pliny about the excessive civilian decline by local figures such as the distribution of money or gifts. For the same reason, judging from Pliny's letters, it may also be assumed that Trajan and his assistants were as bored with Dio and other Greek statements of political influence based on what they saw as their "special connection". to their Roman lords. A revealing case history, told by Pliny, tells of Dio of Prusa placing a statue of Trajan in a building complex where Dio's wife and son were buried - because it provoked treason charges for placing a statue of the Emperor near the cemetery. However, Trajan canceled the suit.
However, while the office of the Correspondent is intended as a tool to curb any indications of independent political activity among local leaders in Greek cities, the Correspondents themselves are all persons of the highest social standing entrusted with extraordinary commissions. The reason seems to have been partially compiled as a reward for the senators who have chosen to pursue solely on behalf of the Emperor. Therefore, in reality the post was understood as a means to "tame" both the Greek and Roman senators. It should be added that, although Trajan was wary of civilian oligarchs in Greek cities, he also admitted to the Senate a number of prominent Eastern leaders who had been scheduled for promotion during the Domitian administration by ordering one of the twenty posts opened each year. for a minor judge (who is vigintiviri ). Such must be the case of the famous Galatian and "a prominent member of the Greek community" (according to one inscription) Gaius Julius Severus, who is descended from several Hellenistic dynasties and kings of clients. Severus was the grandfather of Gaius Julius Quadratus Bassus, the famous consul in the year 105. Other important members of the senator from the East include Gaius Julius Alexander Berenician, the descendant of Herod the Great, the strong consul at 116. Trajan creates at least fourteen new senators from Greece- speaking half from the Empire, an unprecedented number of recruits open to questioning the problem of "traditional Roman" characters from his government, as well as "Hellenism" from his successor Hadrian. But then the new Trajan East senators are mostly very powerful and very rich people with more than local influence and many are interconnected with marriage, so many of them are not at all "new" to the Senate. At the local level, among the underside of the lower East, the alienation of most Greek and intellectuals to Roman rule, and the fact that the Romans were seen by most Greek figures such as aliens, survived well after Trajan's rule. It is interesting to note that one of Trajan's senatorial creations from the East, Athena Gaius Julius Antiochus Epiphanes Philopappos, a member of the Royal House of Commagene, left him a funeral monument on the Hill of Mouseion which was then underestimated described by Pausanias as "a monument built for a man Syria ".
Conquest of Dacia
It was as a military commander that Trajan was best known in history, especially for his conquests in the Near East, but initially for two wars against Dacia - a reduction to the client kingdom (101-102), followed by the actual incorporation into the Imperial trans-Danube in Dacia - an area that has disrupted Roman thinking for more than a decade with unstable peace negotiated by Domitian minister with the powerful Dacian king Decebalus. Under the terms of this agreement, Decebalus is recognized as rex amicus , that is, the client's king; However, in return for receiving the client's status, he receives a large salary from Rome, and is awarded to technical experts. The treaty appears to have allowed Roman troops the right to pass through Dasia's kingdom to attack Marcomanni, Quadi and Sarmatians. However, the senator's opinion never forgave Domitian for paying what was seen as a "tribute" to a Barbarian king. Moreover, unlike the Germanic tribes, the Dacian kingdom is an organized state capable of developing its own alliance, thus making it a strategic threat and giving Trajan a powerful motive to attack it.
In May 101, Trajan launched its first campaign into Dasia's kingdom, crossing to the northern edge of the Danube and defeating Dasia's army in Tapae (see Tapae Second Battle), near the Transylvania Iron Gate. It was not a decisive victory. The Trajan forces were persecuted in the fighting, and he delayed further campaigns for that year to re-gather and strengthen his troops.
The following winter, King Decebalus took the initiative by launching a counterattack on the Danube further downstream, supported by the Sarmatia cavalry, forcing Trajan to come to help the troops in his rearguard. The Dacians and their allies were repulsed after two battles in Moesia, in Nicopolis ad Istrum and Adamclisi. The Trajan army then advanced further into Dacca territory, and a year later, forced Decebalus to surrender. He had to abandon claims to some of his royal territories, restore all Roman escape (most of them technical experts), and surrender all his war machines.
Trajan returned to Rome with victory and was given the title of Dacicus .
Peace 102 has restored Decebalus to a more or less harmless state of the client king; However, he immediately began to rearm, to return to the Roman escape port, and to suppress his western neighbor, the Iazyges Sarmatians, into alliance with him. By attempting to develop an anti-Roman bloc, Decebalus finally left Trajan without the alternative of treating Dacia as a protectorate, rather than a direct conquest. In 104 Decebalus devised a failed attempt on the life of Trajan by means of some Roman deserters, and detained the trajan Longinus middleman, who eventually poisoned himself while in custody. Finally, in 105, Decebalus invaded the Roman occupied territory north of the Danube.
Prior to the campaign, Trajan had collected two new legions: II Traiana which may be posted in the East, at the port of Syria Laodicea and XXX Ulpia Victrix, posted to Brigetio, in Pannonia.. In 105, the concentration of Roman troops gathered in the middle and bottom of the Danube totaled fourteen legions (up from nine in 101) about half of all Roman troops. Even after the war of Dasia, the Danube border will replace Rhine permanently as the main military axis of the Roman Empire. Including auxiliary troops, the number of Roman troops involved in both campaigns was between 150,000 and 175,000, while Decebalus could dump up to 200,000.
Following the Apollodorus design of Damascus, Trajan ordered the construction of a large bridge over the Danube, where Roman soldiers could cross the river quickly and in numbers, and send reinforcements, even in the winter when the river was not frozen enough to bear part of an army party. Trajan also reformed the Iron Gates regional infrastructure of the Danube. He commissioned the making or enlarging of roads along the Iron Gate, engraved on the side of a cliff. In addition, Trajan commissioned a canal to be built around the rapids of the Iron Gate. This proof comes from a marble slab found near Caput Bovis, the Roman fortress. Slab, dated to the 101st year, commemorates the construction of at least one channel that goes from the Kasajna creek to at least Ducis Pratum, whose dike is still visible today. However, the placement of the slab on Caput Bovis shows that the channel is expanded to this point or that there is a second channel downstream from Kasajna-Ducis Pratum one.
These expensive projects are completed, at 105 Trajan back down to the field. In a fierce campaign that appears to be largely composed of static battles, the Dacians, who have no space, continue to network their fortress, which the Romans sought systematically to attack (see also Second Dacian War). The Romans gradually cemented their grips around the Decebalus fort at Sarmizegetusa Regia, which they eventually took and destroyed. Decebalus fled, but, when cornered by the Roman cavalry, committed suicide. His disconnected head, taken to Trajan by the cavalry Tiberius Claudius Maximus, was then exhibited in Rome on the steps leading up to the Capitol and thrown to the Gemonian ladder.
Trajan built a new city, Colonia Ulpia Traiana Augusta Dacica Sarmizegetusa, on another site (north of the hill fort which had the capital of Dacia before), despite having the same full name, Sarmizegetusa. The capital is conceived as a pure civil administrative center and provided by the administrative apparatus usually colomized (decurion, aediles, etc.). Urban life in Roman Dacia seems to be limited to Roman colonies, mostly military veterans; no evidence exists for existence in the provinces of peregrine cities. The indigenous Indians continue to live in rural settlements scattered, in their own way. In another, parallel arrangement in another Roman province, Dasi's quasi-urban settlements disappeared after the Roman conquest. A number of unorganized city settlements developed around the military encampment in Dacia - the most important being the Apulum - but only recognized as worthy cities after the reign of Trajan.
The main regional efforts of urbanization were centered by Trajan in the back row, in Moesia, where he created new towns from Nicopolis ad Istrum and Marcianopolis. A vicus is also created around the Tropaeum Traianum. The garrison city of Oescus received the status of the Roman colony after its legionary garrison was re-deployed. The fact that this former Danubia headquarters has ceased to be a frontier base and is now behind that in acting as an inducement for their urbanization and development.
Not all Dacians are permanently occupied. What is permanently included in this province, after the post-Trajanic evacuation of some land beyond the lower Danube, is the land that stretches from the Danube to the inner curves of the Carpathian Mountains, including Transylvania, the Metaliferi Mountains and Oltenia. The Roman province finally took the form of the "destruction" of the North from the Danube, with its vague boundaries, stretching from the northern Danube to the Carpathian, and intended perhaps as a basis for further expansion in Eastern Europe-which Rome is understood to be much more "flattened" and closer to the sea, than it really is. The provincial defense is entrusted to a legion, XIII Gemina, stationed in Apulum, which serves as an advanced guard who can, if necessary, attack west or east in the Sarmatians who live on the border. Therefore, the untenable province character does not seem to be a problem for Trajan, since the province is more conceived as a sally basis for further attacks. Even in the absence of further Roman expansion, the value of the province depended on the overall strength of Rome: while the powerful Romans, the prominent Dacians were the military and diplomatic control of the Danubian lands; when Rome was weak, as during the Third-Century Crisis, the province became an obligation and was eventually abandoned.
Trajan resettled Dacia with the Romans and annexed it as a province of the Roman Empire. Aside from their huge spoils (more than half a million slaves, according to John Lydus), Dacca Trajan's campaign benefited Imperial finance through the acquisition of the Dacia gold mine, which is managed by the royal procurator of the equestrian rankings ( aurariarum procurator). On the other hand, commercial agricultural exploitation of the villa model, based on the centralized management of vast land by sole proprietors ( fundus ) is not well developed. Therefore, the use of slave labor in the province itself appears to have been relatively undeveloped, and epigraphic evidence suggests working in a gold mine by means of a work contract ( locatio conductio rei ) and a seasonal wage- income.
The victory was commemorated by the second development of 102 cenotaph commonly known as Tropaeum Traiani in Moesia, as well as much longer (113) Trajan Column in Rome, the latter depicting in stone carved the most important Dafa War reliefs of a few moments.
Annexation of Nabatea
In 106, Rabbel II Soter, one of the kings of the Roman client, died. This event may have encouraged the annexation of the Nabataean kingdom, but the formal means and reasons for annexation are unclear. Some epigraphic evidence shows military operations, with the power of Syria and Egypt. What is known is that in 107, the Roman legions were placed in the area around Petra and Bostra, as shown by the papyrus found in Egypt. The farthest southern region occupied by the Romans (or, better, striped, adopting a policy of having garrisons at key points in the desert) is Hegra, more than 300 kilometers (190 miles) southwest of Petra. The Empire acquired what became the province of Arabia Petraea (modern southern Jordan and northwest Saudi Arabia). Since Nabataea was the last client empire of Asia to the west of Euphrates, the annexation meant that the whole of East Rome had been at the provincial level, completing a tendency toward a direct government that had begun under the Flavian people.
Period of peace: public buildings and celebrations
For the next seven years, Trajan ruled as a civilian emperor, with the same praise as before. It was at that time that he corresponded with Pliny the Younger about how to deal with the Pontus Christians, telling Pliny to continue to persecute Christians but not to accept anonymity for the sake of justice and also for the "spirit of the age". Those who claim to be Christians and refuse to admit, however, must be executed "to be stubborn" when not citizens, and sent to Rome for trial if they are Roman citizens.
Trajan built several new buildings, monuments and roads in Italy and Hispania origin. His magnificent complex in Rome to commemorate his victory at Dacia (and largely financed from campaign spoils) - comprising a forum, Trajan Column, and Trajan Market, still stands in Rome today. He is also a prolific winning arch builder, many survive, and rebuild the road (Via Traiana and Via Traiana Nova).
One of Trajan's leading acts during this period was the host of a three-month gladiatorial festival in the great Colosseum in Rome (the exact date is unknown). Combining train races, animal fights and close-range gladiator bloodshed, this bloody spectacle is said to have killed 11,000 people (mostly slaves and criminals, not to mention the thousands of wild beasts they killed) and attracted a total of five million spectators during the festival trip. The care provided by Trajan on such public spectacle management leads Fronto's orator stating that Trajan has paid the same attention to entertainment as well as serious problems. Fronto concludes that "ignoring serious problems can lead to greater damage, but a disregard for greater discomfort". As Fronto added, entertainment is a means to guarantee public approval, while the more "serious" issue of alms corn is aimed solely at the individual.
Devaluation of currency
In 107 Trajans devalued the Roman currency. It decreases the silver purity of the denarius from 93.5% to 89% - the actual silver weight drops from 3.04 Ã, gram to 2.88 gram. This devaluation, coupled with the large amount of gold and silver brought after the Dacian Trajan War, enabled the emperor to print a large number of denarii from his predecessors. Also, Trajan withdrew from the circulation of silver denarii that was printed before the previous devaluation was achieved by Nero, something that made it possible to think that Trajan's devaluation was related to political objectives, such as allowing increased civil and military spending.
The alimenta
Another important action is the formalization of the alimenta, a welfare program that helps orphans and poor children throughout Italy. It provides public funds, as well as subsidized food and education. The program was originally supported from the spoils of the Dasia War, and subsequently by a combination of real estate taxes and philanthropy. In general, this scheme works by mortgage on Italian farms ( fundi ), in which the registered landowner receives the same amount of imperial property, in return is expected to pay annually the specified proportion of the loan for the maintenance of funds alimentary.
Although the system is well documented in contemporary literary and epigraphic sources, its precise goals are controversial and have generated major disagreements among modern scholars, especially about its actual objectives and scope as part of its welfare policy. It is usually assumed that the program is intended to increase the number of citizens in Italy, following the provisions of the moral law of Augustus (Lexia Julia ) that support procreation on a moral basis - something openly recognized by Pliny. However, this reproductive purpose is out of date, based on the Roman Empire's view based in Rome and Italy, with a purely Italian labor base, both of which are no longer a problem. This outdated attitude is confirmed by Pliny when he writes that the recipients of alimenta that should be "barracks and tribes" as warriors and future voters - the two roles are inconsistent with the contemporary reality of a a kingdom that stretches across the Mediterranean and is governed by an autocrat. The fact that the scheme was limited to Italy suggests that the scheme may have been understood as a form of political privilege given to the original heart of the empire. According to the French historian Paul Petit, alimenta should be seen as part of a series of actions aimed at the Italian economic recovery. Finley thinks that the main purpose of this scheme is to strengthen the artificial powers of Italian heavy politics, as seen, for example, in strictures - earnestly praised by Pliny - set by Trajan who orders all senators, even when from provinces, to have at least a third of their land landed in the territory of Italy, because "it is inappropriate [...] that [they] should treat Rome and Italy not as their homeland, but only as inn or inn".
"Interesting and unique" as the scheme, it remains small. The fact that it is subsidized by interest payments on loans by landowners - mostly large, assumed to be a more reliable debtor - really benefits from a very low percentage of potential welfare recipients (Paul Veyne assumes that, in this town of Veleia, only one child out of ten is the real beneficiary, thus the idea, which Musa I. Finley suggests, is a grandiose goal of at least random charity, an additional imperial virtue.Relependence is only on loans to large landowners (in Veleia , only about 17 square kilometers) restricting further funding sources.It seems that a mortgage scheme is just a way to get local leaders to participate, albeit in a lower role, in the virtues of the empire.It is likely that the scheme, to some extent, , something that binds landowners who are not willing to the treasure of kek to get them to supply some funds for civilian expenditure. The same idea to exploit private and more efficient management of cultivated land as a means of obtaining public income is also used by other similar and lesser schemes. The senator Pliny has granted his city the Comum of perpetual right to an annual fee of thirty thousand sestertii on one of his estates in his lifetime even after his death (heirs of Pliny or subsequent buyers of estate becomes liable), with the lease earned contributing to the maintenance of Pliny's semi-private charitable foundation. With such a scheme, Pliny may hope to generate enthusiasm among fellow landowners for such philanthropic endeavors. Trajan does the same thing, but because "willingness is a slick commodity," Finley suspects that, to ensure the acceptance of Italian landowners on loan expenses from alimenta funds, some "moral" pressures "given..
In short, this scheme is very limited in scope which can not meet economic goals or coherent demographics - it is a regular Ancient charity directed not against the poor but for society (in this case, Italian cities) as a whole. The fact that alimenta began during and after the Dafa War and twice came on the heels of the distribution of money to the Roman population ( War on Parthia
In 113 Trajan began his final campaign, sparked by Parthia's decision to place an unacceptable king on the throne of Armenia, a kingdom in which two great empires had shared hegemony since the time of Nero some fifty years earlier. It is noteworthy, however, that Trajan, who had existed in Syria earlier in the year 113, consistently refused to accept the diplomatic approach of Parthia to resolve Armenian displeasure peacefully.
Since the surviving literary tales of Parthian Trajan War are fragmentary and dispersed, it is difficult to establish them the exact context, something that has caused a prolonged controversy over the right occurrence and its eventual purpose. Many modern historians assume that Trajan's decision to fight against the Parthians may have an economic motif: after the annexation of Trajan in Arabia, he built a new road, Via Traiana Nova, which went from Bostra to Aila in the Red Sea. That means that Charax in the Persian Gulf is the only remaining western terminal of the Indian trading route outside of direct Roman control, and such control is essential to lower import prices and to limit the disposal of the precious metal created by the deficit in Rome. trade with the Far East.
That Charax trades with the Roman Empire, there is no doubt, since the actual connection with merchants of Palmyra during that period is well documented in the contemporary Palmyrene inscription, which tells of the respected Palmyrene citizens for holding offices in Charax. Also, the domain of the Charax rulers at that time may include the islands of Bahrain (where a Palmyrene resident held an office, shortly after Trajan's death, as a satrap-but later, the appointment was made by the Parthia king of Charax) something that offered the possibility of extending hegemony Roman to the Persian Gulf itself. The rationale behind the Trajan campaign, in this case, was to undermine the Far Eastern trading system through Semitic ("Arab") small towns under Parthian control and place it under Roman control.
In the conquest of Dacia, Trajan has used Syrian auxiliary units, whose veterans, along with Syrian merchants, have an important role in the occupation of Dacia. He has recruited Palmyrene units into his troops, including camel units, therefore apparently getting Palmyrene's support for the ultimate goal of annexing Charax. He had even ventured that, when previously in his campaign of Trajan annexed Armenia, he was bound to annex the whole of Mesopotamia in case Parthia disrupted the flow of commerce from the Persian Gulf and/or caused trouble at the Roman border on the Danube.
Other historians reject these motives, as the Parthians had hoped for "control" over the maritime Far Eastern trading route, at best, condemned and based on selective reading of Chinese sources by land through Parthian seems to have been obstructed by the Parthian authorities. and left entirely to the private company's devices. Commercial activity in the 2nd century Mesopotamia seems to have become a common phenomenon, possessed by many in and without the Roman Empire, with no sign of the Imperial policy structured toward it. As in the case of alimenta, scholars like Moses Finley and Paul Veyne have considered the whole idea of ​​foreign trade "policy" behind the Trajan war, anachronistic: according to them, the only concern Roman with Far Eastern luxury trades in addition to collecting taxes and toll customs is moral and engages frown on the "softness" of luxury, but there is no economic policy. In the absence of conclusive evidence, trade between Rome and India may be much more balanced, in the case of the number of precious metals exchanged: one of our sources for the idea of ​​Roman gold drain - Pliny is Young's uncle, Pliny the Elder - Previously described Ganga Plains as wrong a golden source for the Roman Empire. Therefore, in his controversial book on the Ancient economy, Finley considers Trajan "a miscalculation and costly attack on Parthia" to be an example of many of the Roman "commercial" wars that share the same facts that exist only in the books of modern historians..
An alternative view is to see a campaign sparked by the lure of territorial annexation and prestige, the only motive given by Cassius Dio. As far as territorial conquest involves the collection of taxes, especially the 25% tax imposed on all goods entering the Roman Empire, tetarte , one can say that Parthian Trajan War has an "economic" motive. Also, there is a propaganda value of the Eastern conquest to be imitated, in Roman fashion, belonging to Alexander the Great. The fact that the envoys of the Kushan Empire may have attended the memorial service for the Dacian War may have been illuminated in some Greco-Roman intellectuals like PlutarchÃ,- who wrote of only 70,000 Roman soldiers required to conquer India as well as at closer Trajan colleagues, speculative dreams about the loot to be obtained by reproducing the conquest of Eastern Macedonia. There could also be the idea of ​​Trajan to use the ambitious blueprint of conquest as a way of emphasizing the status of quasi-divine, as with its cultivation associations, in coins and monuments, to Hercules. Also, it is possible that Trajan's engagement with expansionist policy is supported by a strong circle of conservative senators from Hispania who are committed to imperial expansion policy, first among them the mighty Suri Licinius. Alternatively, one can explain the campaign to the fact that, for the Romans, their empire is in principle infinite, and that Trajan only seeks opportunities to make ideas and reality coincide.
Finally, there are other modern historians who think that Trajan's original purpose was purely military and simple enough: to ensure a more defensible Eastern border for the Roman Empire, crossing North Mesopotamia along the Khabur River to offer protection to the Romans. Armenia. This interpretation is supported by the fact that all subsequent Roman wars against the Parthians will aim to establish a distant Roman presence within the Partia itself.
The campaign was carefully planned before: ten legions were concentrated in the Eastern theater; since 111, the correspondence of Pliny the Younger testifies to the fact that the provincial government in Bitinia should arrange supplies for passing troops, and the local municipal councils and their individual members must bear some of the rising costs by providing their own troops. The targeted campaign, therefore, is very expensive from the start.
Trajan led first in Armenia, overthrowing the king who was appointed Parthia (who was later killed while being held in Roman custody in an unclear incident, later described by Fronto as a violation of Roman goodwill) and annexed it to the Roman Empire as a province, receiving hegemonic recognition Roman by various tribes in the Caucasus and on the shores of the East Black Sea - a process that kept him busy until the end of the year 114. At the same time, a Roman column under the legate of Lusius Quietus - an extraordinary cavalry general who had gestured himself during the War Dacia by ordering a unit of the original Mauretania - crossing the Araxes river from Armenia to the Atropatene Media and Mardian lands (the current Ghilan). It is possible that the Quietus campaign aims to extend the newer and more defensible Roman borders eastward to the Caspian Sea and to the north to the foot of the Caucasus hill. This new "more rational" frontier depends on the increasing and permanent presence of the Romans east of the Euphrates River.
The next chronology of events is uncertain, but it is generally believed that at the beginning of the year 115 Trajan launched the Mesopotamian campaign, marching towards the Taurus mountains to consolidate the territory between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. He placed a permanent garrison along the way to secure the territory. While Trajan moved from west to east, Lusius Quietus moved with his troops from the Caspian Sea to the west, the two troops made a successful pincer movement, whose clear result was to establish a Roman presence into the Parthian Empire, with Trajan taking the northern Mesopotamian Cities from Nisibis and Batnae and organized a province of Mesopotamia, including the Kingdom of Osrhoene where the Abgaros King Ã, VII handed Trajan publicly as a Roman protectorate. This process appears to have been completed in early 116, when the coins were issued announcing that Armenia and Mesopotamia had been placed under the authority of the Romans. The area between the Khabur River and the mountains around Singara appears to have been considered a new frontier, and thus accepts the road surrounded by fortresses.
After wintering in Antioch for 115/116Ã, -and, according to literary sources, barely escaped the devastating earthquake that claimed the life of one of the consuls, M. Ã, Pedo VirgilianusÃ, -Ã, Trajan again descended into field at 116, with a view to conquering all of Mesopotamia, an ambitious goal that ultimately backfires on the outcome of his entire campaign. According to some modern historians, the purpose of the campaign was to achieve a "preemptive demonstration" aimed not at the conquest of the Parthians, but for the more strict Roman control of the Eastern trade routes. However, the overall scarcity of labor for Roman military establishment meant that the campaign was cursed from the beginning. It should be noted that no new legions were raised by Trajan before the Parthia campaign, possibly because the source of recruitment of new citizens has been overexploited.
As far as the source allows the description of this campaign, it seems that a Roman division crossed the Tigris into Adiabene, sweeping south and capturing Adenystrae; a second followed the river to the south, capturing Babylon; Trajan himself sailed down the Euphrates River from Dura-Europos where a triumphal arch was erected on his honor through Ozogardana, where he founded the "tribunal" remains to be seen during the Julian the Apostate campaign in the same area. Having reached the narrow land between the Euphrates and the Tigris, he then dragged his fleet to the Tigris, capturing Seleucia and finally the Parthian capital of Ctesiphon.
He continued south to the Persian Gulf, when, after fleeing with his tidal fleet on the Tigris, he accepted the submission of Athambelus, the ruler of Charax. He declared Babylon as the new province of the Empire and had a statue erected on the shores of the Persian Gulf, after which he sent a Senate letter which declared that the war would end and lamenting that he was too old to go on further and repeat Alexander the Great's conquest. Since Charax is an independent de facto empire relating to Palmyra described above, the Trajan offer for the Persian Gulf may coincide with Palmyrene's interests in the region. Another hypothesis is that the Charax ruler has an expansionist design in Babyl Babylia, giving them a reason to ally with Trajan. The summer capital of Parthia in Susa was apparently also occupied by the Romans.
According to late literary sources (not supported by numismatic evidence or inscription) an Assyrian province is also proclaimed, apparently covering the Adiabene region. Some steps seem to have been considered about the fiscal administration of Indian trade or just about the payment of portoria duties on goods traded on the Euphrates and Tigris. It is possible that this is the "alignment" of the newly conquered land administration according to the standard pattern of Roman provincial administration in the collection of taxes, official requests and the handling of local potentate prerogatives, which triggered later resistance to Trajan.
According to some modern historians, Trajan may have occupied himself during his stay in the Persian Gulf by ordering an attack on the coast of Parthia, as well as investigating extending Roman sovereignty over mountain climbers who hold their path across the Zagros Mountains to the eastern Plateau of Iran. , as well as building a direct contact between Rome and Kushan Empire. There was no attempt to extend to Iran's own Plateau, where Roman troops, with its relative weakness in the cavalry, would suffer losses.
However, since Trajan left the Persian Gulf for Babylon where he intended to sacrifice to Alexander at the house where he had died in BCÃ, a sudden explosion of Parthia resistance, led by a the nephew of the king of Parthian Osroes I, Sanatruces, took place.
Sanatruces, who retained the power of the cavalry, was probably reinforced by the addition of Saka archers, the alien Roman position in Mesopotamia and Armenia, something that Trajan tried to handle by ignoring the direct Roman government in Parthia, at least in part.
Trajan sends two soldiers to Northern Mesopotamia: the first, under Lusius Quietus, restores Nisibis and Edessa from the rebels, perhaps after King Abbarus was overthrown and killed in the process, with Quietus probably getting the right to receive the honor of a senator from a pretrial rank (< i> adlectus inter praetorios ). The second army, however, under Appius Maximus Santra (possibly a Macedonian governor) was defeated and Santra was killed. Then in 116, Trajan, with the help of Quietus and the other two legates, Marcus Erucius Clarus and Tiberius Julius Alexander Julianus, defeated the Parthian army in battle in which Sanatruces was killed (possibly with the help of Osroes's son and cousin Sanatruces, Parthamaspates, whom Trajan succeeded in seducing). After taking back and burning Seleucia, Trajan later officially fired Osroes, placing Parthamaspates on the throne as the master of the client. The event is commemorated with coins so it can be presented as Parthia's subtraction to the client's royal status: REX PARTHIS DATUS , "a king is given to Parthia". That was done, Trajan retreated northward to defend what he could from the new provinces of Armenia where he had received a truce in return for handing over parts of the territory to the sons of Sanatruces' Vologeses and Mesopotamia.
It is at this point that Trajan's health begins to fail. The city of Hatra's fortress, at the Tigris behind it, continues to defend against Roman attacks repeatedly. He was personally present at the siege, and maybe he suffered a heat attack while in the blistering heat.
Shortly thereafter, the Jews in the Eastern Roman Empire, in Egypt, Cyprus, and Cyrene - the last province that may be the source of the major problem arising in what might be an explosion of religious rebellion against local pagans, rebel this widespread. after it was called the War of Kitos. Another rebellion emerged among the Jewish community of North Mesopotamia, perhaps part of a general reaction to the Roman occupation. Trajan was forced to withdraw its troops to dismiss the rebellion. He sees this withdrawal only as a temporary setback, but he is destined to never again lead troops on the field, turning his Eastern troops into Lusius Quietus, which in the mean time (early 117 years) has become governor of Judea and may have previous agreements with some kind of Jewish riots in this province. Quietus had succeeded
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