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[[File: Trajan One.jpg|200px|thumb|left|A bust of Trajan]]
==Background==
Trajan’s reign (98-117 AD) occurred at perhaps one of the greatest eras in Roman History. In the First Century A.D. , the economy of Rome had been expanding for many years and the Empire continued to expand. The period witnessed a cultural renaissance and many of the great Latin writers wrote their greatest works at this time. Successive Emperors maintained the system that was perfected by Augustus, which was an imperial system that shared power with the Senatorial elite. This system had provided stability to a large part of Europe and the Near East. Marcus Ulpius Traianus was born in what is now modern Spain and was of Italian descent </ref> Bennett, Julian. Trajan. Optimus Princeps. (Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 2001), p. 18</ref>. His father was a general and governor and was later enrolled in the Senate. Trajan grew up in Rome and he served with his father in Syria and he later enjoyed the favour favor of the Emperor Domitian and in 91 AD he served as consul</ref>Bennet, p 34</ref>. In 96 AD Domitian was assassinated in a conspiracy and Nerva ascended the throne. Trajan was governor of Lower Germany and was in command of several legions and was a very important power broker in the years after the death of Domitian. Nerva who was advanced in years adopted him as his son and heir<ref/>Bennet, p 46</ref>.
[[File: Trajan Two.jpg|200px|thumb|left|A relief showing a battle between Romans and Dacians]]
==Reign of Trajan==
In 98 AD Trajan became Emperor after the death of Nerva. Trajan proved to be an energetic ruler and immediately reduced the influence of the Praetorian Guard<ref> Mommsen, Theodor A History of Rome Under the Emperors (London: Routledge, 1999), p 113</ref>. He secured support by offering donations to the legions and the population of Rome and reduced taxes. Trajan was very much a builder and he helped to finance many public buildings and ordered the building of many aqueducts and prohibited wasteful expenditure on festivals. He also initiated a series of social welfare reforms. Trajan also overhauled the administration of the Empire and ended abuses by Senators. His domestic policy achievements are impressive, but his main focus was on military glory. He abandoned the policy of Augustus, of not seeking to expand the Empire<Suetonius, Life of Augustus, xxv</ref>. Only Britain had been added to the Empire since the death of the first Emperor. Trajan was determined to expand Rome’s borders and for the first time in a century he pursued an active policy of conquest. In modern Romania, a powerful confederation of Thracian tribes, the Dacians had proven a formidable foe and had defeated Roman governors in the past. Trajan after careful preparations invaded Dacia and in 101-102 reduced the Dacian kingdom to the status of a vassal. However, in 105 the Dacians revolted and Trajan invaded the area and in a series of bloody campaigns ended the revolt with the capture of the capital Sarmizegethusa (106 AD). Dacian resistance was ended with the suicide of their king and chief priest, Decalbus. Trajan organised the kingdom into a Roman Province and he encouraged settlers from all over the Empire to settle in the new territory<ref> Schmitz, Michael The Dacian Threat, 101–106 AD. Armidale, Australia: Caeros Pty, 2005), p 134</ref>. Trajan was a restless figure and he seems to have sought to emulate the achievements of Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar<ref> Csassius Dio, Roman History, book 68, xi</ref>. He recruited a large army for the invasion of Parthia, the Romans greatest enemy. First, he annexed the Nabatean Kingdom with its famous capital of Petra to secure his flank. The Parthian campaign began in 105/106 AD and it took place at a time when that Empire had been weakened by a series of civil wars. Despite this the Parthians defended their territories fiercely. They even placed a puppet on the throne of Armenia in 110 AD<ref>Bennet, p 101</ref>. Trajan launched a ferocious counter-attack and recaptured Armenia and later conquered Northern Mesopotamia (modern North Iraq) and organized it into a province. He built a road to link the province to the rest of the Empire and this allowed his legions to strike deep into the heart of the Parthian Empire. In 115 he marched his army down the Tigris River and he swiftly captured the Parthian summer capital of Ctesiphon and advanced down the Tigris to the Persian Gulf<ref>Cassius Dio, 68, 17</ref>. He annexed the entire area of modern Iraq and incorporated it into the Empire. An anecdote is told that when Trajan saw the Persian Gulf he wept because he was too old to conquer the rest of the known world. In 116, while in Antioch, the Emperor nearly died in an earthquake and a series of revolts broke out across the Roman territories in the east<ref>Cassius Dio, 10, 19</ref>. A serious Jewish revolt broke out in several areas of the eastern Mediterranean. Trajan was ill and old and decided to journey back to Rome, but he died in 116 AD, in Asia Minor. The Emperor had no children and adopted Hadrian an experienced soldier and governor. After Trajan’s death Hadrian became ruler of the Roman World.
