Profile for Emperor: Trajan - A guide to the coins of the Roman Empire

Trajan

Reece Period attributed: Period 5

Member of the The Adoptive Emperors dynasty.

Coins for this issuer were issued from 98 until 117.

Marcus Ulpius Nerva Traianus [Caesar] was born in AD 53 and spent much of his early career in Syria, where his father was governor. He later served as governor of Germany under Nerva, who also adopted him. After Nerva’s death he entered Rome humbly, but soon began military campaigns.

Trajan treated his citizens well and was known for his affability. He exiled his enemies, but did not kill them, and engaged in public works and restored infrastructure. Trajan’s column still stands at the end of Trajan’s Forum in Rome; the emperor levelled that hilly region and constructed more public buildings.

Although a pederast and heavy drinker, Trajan was well-liked for his policies and government. Among other military endeavours, he conquered Armenia and won many honorific military titles. He died from complications of a possible stroke, though Trajan believed he had been poisoned. He was deified and his ashes placed at the foot of his column.

View all coins recorded by the scheme attributed to Trajan.

Wikipedia derived information

Trajan, was Roman Emperor from 98 to 117 AD.

Born into a non-patrician family in the province of Hispania Baetica, Trajan rose to prominence during the reign of emperor Domitian. Serving as a legatus legionis in Hispania Tarraconensis, in 89 Trajan supported the emperor against a revolt on the Rhine led by Antonius Saturninus. In September 96, Domitian was succeeded by Marcus Cocceius Nerva, an old and childless senator who proved to be unpopular with the army.

After a brief and tumultuous year in power, a revolt by members of the Praetorian Guard compelled him to adopt the more popular Trajan as his heir and successor. Nerva died on 27 January 98, and was succeeded by his adopted son without incident. As a civilian administrator, 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 Trajan's Column.

Early in his reign, he annexed the Nabataean kingdom, creating the province of Arabia Petraea. His conquest of Dacia enriched the empire greatly â the new province possessed many valuable gold mines. His war against the Parthian Empire ended with the sack of the capital Ctesiphon and the annexation of Armenia and Mesopotamia.

His campaigns expanded the Roman Empire to its greatest territorial extent. In late 117, while sailing back to Rome, Trajan fell ill and died of a stroke in the city of Selinus. He was deified by the Senate and his ashes were laid to rest under Trajan's Column.

He was succeeded by his adopted son Hadrian. As an emperor, Trajan's reputation has endured â he is one of the few rulers whose reputation has survived nineteen centuries. Every new emperor after him was honored by the Senate with the wish felicior Augusto, melior Traiano (" luckier than Augustus and better than Trajan").

Among medieval Christian theologians, Trajan was considered a virtuous pagan, while the 18th century historian Edward Gibbon popularized the notion of the Five Good Emperors, of which Trajan was the second..

Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trajan
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