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The "Five Good Emperors"

Trajan (98-117)

Nerva died 27 January 98, bringing Trajan to power. This is the period of the so-called Five Good Emperors: Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius. For five emperors in a row, there was no dynastic succession, but rather a different princple applied: each emperor chose a successor before he got too old. The successor actually shared in the duties of ruling and in a couple of cases was actually proclaimed co-emperor. Thus, when the one died, the other stepped smoothly into his place.

Trajan was a soldier at heart, happiest when he was campaigning. His principal accomplishments were in the area of the military and of the organization of the provinces. With a keen eye for what was practical, he secured a border in Dacia, chose to abandon Scotland, and made effective war on Parthia. He annexed Armenia, Assyria and Mesopotamia to the Empire, created the province of Arabia, and even captured the Persian capital of Ctesiphon in 115. He was emperor during the Second Jewish War, the result of which was to cause the Jews to be removed almost completely from their homeland and scattered across the Empire—the famous Diaspora. The Roman Empire never covered more territory than it did under Trajan.

This was also the Silver Age of Roman literature, with the most famous writers being Pliny the Younger and the historian Tacitus. A record of Trajan’s many accomplishments were recorded on a column, with the history of his feats winding around it from top to bottom. This is Trajan’s Column, which can still be seen in Rome. He presided over a good many notable building programs, including an expansion of the Forum that bears his name, reconstruction of the Circus Maximus to a size that could hold 200,000 people, and the building of an entire new harbor at Ostia (Rome’s port town).

With the examples of Caligula, Nero, Galba, Otho and Domitian before him, simply dying of old age rather than being murdered was rather an accomplishment. Trajan ruled for many years and expanded the empire more than any man since Tiberius. Perhaps as important as any other accomplishment, he was a good judge of character and chose his successor wisely: Hadrian.