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Trajan: Optimus Princeps
Did Trajan really deserve his reputation as the embodiment of all imperial virtues? Why did Dante, writing in the Middle Ages, place him in the sixth sphere of Heaven among the Just and Temperate rulers?
In this, the only biography of Trajan available in English, Julian Bennett rigorously tests the substance of this glorious reputation. Surprisingly, for a Roman emperor, Trajan comes through the test with his reputation relatively intact.
In this, the only biography of Trajan available in English, Julian Bennett rigorously tests the substance of this glorious reputation. Surprisingly, for a Roman emperor, Trajan comes through the test with his reputation relatively intact.
352 pages, Paperback
First published April 17, 1997
7 people are currently reading
204 people want to read
About the author
Julian Bennett
11 books1 followerDr. Julian Bennett was a British archaeologist.
After leaving secondary school, Dr. Julian Bennett worked as a freelance archaeologist in England and Germany, before entering the University of Durham as a mature student where he graduated with a BA (Hons) in Archaeology in 1978. After preliminary graduate study at Newcastle University, he was appointed an Excavations Director for English Heritage, continuing with part-time graduate studies to eventually be awarded his PhD in 1991. The title of his PhD thesis was The Setting, Development and Function of the Hadrianic Frontier in Britain. From 1985 to 1995, Bennett worked for a New York travel company, guiding for institutions such as the Smithsonian and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and working as Tour Leader and Archaeological Guide Lecturer on boat cruises around Europe and Scandinavia, the Mediterranean World, and South America.
In 1995 Bennett became a professor at Bilkent University in Ankara. His areas of expertise were: provincial and military Roman archeology, late Roman and Byzantine architecture in Turkey, the Roman Empire and the Roman army and the study of Late Antique and Medieval architecture. He published numerous monographs and articles on various aspects of Roman and Medieval Britain and the Roman army, and was the author of two books, Towns in Roman Britain (1980) and Trajan. Optimus Princeps. A Life And Times (1997). The latter has been translated into Romanian and Russian.
Bennett's fieldwork experience extended from rural and urban salvage excavations in Britain, Romania, and Germany to a later research project, studying the architecture of the Moldavian and Ottoman castle of Belgorod-Akkerman, in Ukraine. He was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London in 2002, becoming only the third person in Turkey to receive that distinction. Bennett appeared in many TV documentaries for the BBC, The History Channel and National Geographic.
After leaving secondary school, Dr. Julian Bennett worked as a freelance archaeologist in England and Germany, before entering the University of Durham as a mature student where he graduated with a BA (Hons) in Archaeology in 1978. After preliminary graduate study at Newcastle University, he was appointed an Excavations Director for English Heritage, continuing with part-time graduate studies to eventually be awarded his PhD in 1991. The title of his PhD thesis was The Setting, Development and Function of the Hadrianic Frontier in Britain. From 1985 to 1995, Bennett worked for a New York travel company, guiding for institutions such as the Smithsonian and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and working as Tour Leader and Archaeological Guide Lecturer on boat cruises around Europe and Scandinavia, the Mediterranean World, and South America.
In 1995 Bennett became a professor at Bilkent University in Ankara. His areas of expertise were: provincial and military Roman archeology, late Roman and Byzantine architecture in Turkey, the Roman Empire and the Roman army and the study of Late Antique and Medieval architecture. He published numerous monographs and articles on various aspects of Roman and Medieval Britain and the Roman army, and was the author of two books, Towns in Roman Britain (1980) and Trajan. Optimus Princeps. A Life And Times (1997). The latter has been translated into Romanian and Russian.
Bennett's fieldwork experience extended from rural and urban salvage excavations in Britain, Romania, and Germany to a later research project, studying the architecture of the Moldavian and Ottoman castle of Belgorod-Akkerman, in Ukraine. He was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London in 2002, becoming only the third person in Turkey to receive that distinction. Bennett appeared in many TV documentaries for the BBC, The History Channel and National Geographic.
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October 16, 2020
Julian Bennett wrote Trajan: Optimus Princeps as a historical biographical narrative; nevertheless, it has been cited by many scholars over the years as a source for background information and the history of Trajan, which begs the question, “to what extent does this biography contribute to the understanding of the Roman Emperorship in a scholarly way?” While I found the book informative and written in a narrative biographical style, it is not solely a biography. I will dive more into how this book is perceived by its audience and who that target audience is. Then, I will provide examples on what Bennett is trying to do and achieve with writing this book in a biographical narrative way, but also as a scholarly source. Lastly, I will add that Bennett contributes to our understanding about Trajan’s emperorship through his examination and use of the primary sources, by providing a new outlook on how Trajan should be researched and perceived. Bennett writes a comparative approach of what we know about Trajan and his rule and compares it to Domitian and Nerva. He concludes with a new theory—that Trajan is no different than Domitian. This is how Bennett explores a new way of looking at Trajan, but also how his book contributes in a scholarly way.
This book is perceived to be a lecture series for bachelor students—an introduction of Trajan and Rome’s historical past because of its chronological approach. This may seem pretty simplistic, but it was a big undertaking to accomplish a feat like this—putting together so many primary sources and looking at the archaeological evidence of Trajan’s reign, such as monuments, architecture, and coinage. Scholars use this book because it is very informative; it is written in an engaging and easy-to-read manner because it extracts from the primary sources many details to make this an unabridged view on Trajan and his emperorship. It is a one-stop shop for any novice, or scholar who researches Trajan.
Bennett’s work seems to portray an image of what a good emperor is. He first setups what kind of emperor Trajan really was (or at least how he was perceived to be by those ancient sources) by sketching Trajan in the context of previous emperors. He provides details found in primary sources from Pliny the Younger and Dio Cocceianus (Chrysostom) to describe and explore Trajan’s emperorship. He compares Trajan with previous emperors through many different aspects, such as how Trajan is treating the people, how the people perceive him as an emperor, Trajan and the military, and the administrative and policy improvements of Trajan.
Bennett points out the virtues and ideology of Trajan and yet subtly remarks that it was Trajan’s programmed intent—his propagandist plan to be this emperor, that even the sick got out of their beds just to catch a glimpse of him. He dives pretty far into Trajan’s character and accomplishments, even using the phrase ‘The Dawn of a New Era’ (saeculum). He does all of these things in order to answer his main research question, which was not explicit, but inferred: What was Trajan’s political, economic, and military manifesto and how was his emperorship different than previous ones? All of this detailed work, seen in his chronological methods, in the biographical narrative writing style, and in his comparison approach, coalesces to answer this implicit research question.
The book is informative and written in a narrative biographical style, but it was not left unmarked from Bennett’s own research. He paints an image of Trajan that is praiseworthy, making his time as emperor positive and full of wonderful accomplishments. However, from reading his book, one can see how doubts start to creep into the reader’s mind regarding the use of Pliny the Younger as a primary source. To Pliny, Trajan’s character and his accomplishments are all things worthy of high praise. Bennett means to cast doubt on Trajan’s image, and that is another way in how he contributes to the scholarly world. He gets us thinking about the bias found in Pliny. Pliny was from the senatorial class; Trajan was generous and a friend to the senatorial class. In his conclusion regarding Trajan and his emperorship, he contradicts this very image that most scholars are accustom to, and argues that Trajan was no different than Domitian.
While Bennett does not address the contemporary scholarly debate, he does add to it. His biographical narrative not only contributed historical details and accomplishments of Trajan’s reign, it raised many questions that scholars should think about in regards to Trajan and his emperorship—however subtle his questions may be, he raised: Should scholars really view Trajan comparatively to his predecessors? How trusting of Pliny the Younger as a historical source (a known senator) should scholars be? At the end of the day, did Trajan outshine Domitian in regards to his policies, administration, and mannerisms? The reader is left pondering these more important questions that were not directly stated, but are formulated while reading Bennett’s Trajan: Optimus Princeps.
In conclusion, Bennett’s book is perceived as a work that one would use in a bachelor’s course to introduce one’s students to Trajan and to give background information on the Roman Empire, such as the war in Parthia and the history with the Dacians. While this book may be beneficial to introductory students, it is also beneficial to scholars, who throughout time cite Bennett when they are doing their own research. His book is not to be used just as a lecture series; it should also be viewed as his own research. While his research question is not explicit, there is one, and he takes his reader through a chronological and comparison approach to Trajan, his character, and accomplishments to end with his overall conclusion—a new study of how we research and view Trajan—as an emperor not that much different than Domitian, but perhaps better at propaganda.
This book is perceived to be a lecture series for bachelor students—an introduction of Trajan and Rome’s historical past because of its chronological approach. This may seem pretty simplistic, but it was a big undertaking to accomplish a feat like this—putting together so many primary sources and looking at the archaeological evidence of Trajan’s reign, such as monuments, architecture, and coinage. Scholars use this book because it is very informative; it is written in an engaging and easy-to-read manner because it extracts from the primary sources many details to make this an unabridged view on Trajan and his emperorship. It is a one-stop shop for any novice, or scholar who researches Trajan.
Bennett’s work seems to portray an image of what a good emperor is. He first setups what kind of emperor Trajan really was (or at least how he was perceived to be by those ancient sources) by sketching Trajan in the context of previous emperors. He provides details found in primary sources from Pliny the Younger and Dio Cocceianus (Chrysostom) to describe and explore Trajan’s emperorship. He compares Trajan with previous emperors through many different aspects, such as how Trajan is treating the people, how the people perceive him as an emperor, Trajan and the military, and the administrative and policy improvements of Trajan.
Bennett points out the virtues and ideology of Trajan and yet subtly remarks that it was Trajan’s programmed intent—his propagandist plan to be this emperor, that even the sick got out of their beds just to catch a glimpse of him. He dives pretty far into Trajan’s character and accomplishments, even using the phrase ‘The Dawn of a New Era’ (saeculum). He does all of these things in order to answer his main research question, which was not explicit, but inferred: What was Trajan’s political, economic, and military manifesto and how was his emperorship different than previous ones? All of this detailed work, seen in his chronological methods, in the biographical narrative writing style, and in his comparison approach, coalesces to answer this implicit research question.
The book is informative and written in a narrative biographical style, but it was not left unmarked from Bennett’s own research. He paints an image of Trajan that is praiseworthy, making his time as emperor positive and full of wonderful accomplishments. However, from reading his book, one can see how doubts start to creep into the reader’s mind regarding the use of Pliny the Younger as a primary source. To Pliny, Trajan’s character and his accomplishments are all things worthy of high praise. Bennett means to cast doubt on Trajan’s image, and that is another way in how he contributes to the scholarly world. He gets us thinking about the bias found in Pliny. Pliny was from the senatorial class; Trajan was generous and a friend to the senatorial class. In his conclusion regarding Trajan and his emperorship, he contradicts this very image that most scholars are accustom to, and argues that Trajan was no different than Domitian.
While Bennett does not address the contemporary scholarly debate, he does add to it. His biographical narrative not only contributed historical details and accomplishments of Trajan’s reign, it raised many questions that scholars should think about in regards to Trajan and his emperorship—however subtle his questions may be, he raised: Should scholars really view Trajan comparatively to his predecessors? How trusting of Pliny the Younger as a historical source (a known senator) should scholars be? At the end of the day, did Trajan outshine Domitian in regards to his policies, administration, and mannerisms? The reader is left pondering these more important questions that were not directly stated, but are formulated while reading Bennett’s Trajan: Optimus Princeps.
In conclusion, Bennett’s book is perceived as a work that one would use in a bachelor’s course to introduce one’s students to Trajan and to give background information on the Roman Empire, such as the war in Parthia and the history with the Dacians. While this book may be beneficial to introductory students, it is also beneficial to scholars, who throughout time cite Bennett when they are doing their own research. His book is not to be used just as a lecture series; it should also be viewed as his own research. While his research question is not explicit, there is one, and he takes his reader through a chronological and comparison approach to Trajan, his character, and accomplishments to end with his overall conclusion—a new study of how we research and view Trajan—as an emperor not that much different than Domitian, but perhaps better at propaganda.
April 7, 2017
Trajan is remembered as one of the greatest of Roman Emperors, and perhaps one of the ideal embodiment's of statesmanship and leadership. Yet it is difficult to find works which deal solely on his biography, and a full assessment of his reign from start to finish. This is in no small part the result of a lack of primary sources for this period, and is unfortunate for the light which once existing material could have provided for our insights on the man, either for better or for worse.
In spite of this Bennett has produced work, as highly detailed and insightful, as it is readable and inspiring for any scholar of this period of Roman Imperial history. Bennett covers Trajan's life from onset to end, giving valuable information about the context of the Mediterranean world but never diverging for long from or losing sight of the central character of Trajan, unlike some historical biographies which tend to spend an equal amount of time describing surrounding events or culture (not that there's anything wrong with that but it tends to just make up page count for the shortfall in information regarding the character in question).
Using the information that is there the author tires to the best of his ability to dissect and provide explanations for the many policies and acts of Trajans reign, whilst also avoiding certain topics which he feels is impossible for us to truly comprehend at this point in time due to lack of source material or physical evidence.
Perhaps what I most enjoyed about this book is that Bennett has attempted to create and demonstrate a character that was a historical Trajan, looking at the man and human being, rather than simply a Roman Emperor. Yes he admits that Trajan had many faults of his own, and was in many ways on paper no better or worse than many of the Emperors that went before or after him, but at the same time he attempts to discover the man behind the veil. He looks at many of Trajans acts, such as the 'alimentia' welfare system, the construction of new ports, and the repairs of roads among others, as the humanitarian aspects of Trajans character, not just as a means of ancient political propaganda. Throughout his work he demonstrates the consciousnesses which Trajan, as the 'Princeps inter Pares' had for the people of the Empire, and that Romes manifest destiny was more than just to rule the world, but also to make the best of it available to all who lived within the empire. The benefits this had on his personal image meanwhile was just a natural, and hoped for, bi-product. At the same time Bennett demonstrates that not even Trajan was so perfect as to be free from the corruption of absolute power as seen by his Parthian War and his desire to equate himself with the Olympians. But it is up to the individual reader to decide their feelings on this matter.
Over all Bennett has created in Trajan a human being, something difficult to create in historical scholarly works which tend to avoid casting personifications as such and rather try to balance why for why in the political or social sense, and tend to use the distance of time between then and now to avoid terms like 'humanitarian' etc. But it is just this which makes Trajan a man worth admiring, a man who, for all his faults, tried to be good, and do what he felt was best for the people of his empire. As such I would recommend this book for anyone who wishes to truly read about the life of a man who, for all the distance between our time and his, reminds us that the ancients were not so different from us, whose ideals and hopes for the future were generally the same, peace and Concorde, but also of the effects which power and glory, or the desire therefor, have on the human condition which unites the people of the past with the people of the present.
In spite of this Bennett has produced work, as highly detailed and insightful, as it is readable and inspiring for any scholar of this period of Roman Imperial history. Bennett covers Trajan's life from onset to end, giving valuable information about the context of the Mediterranean world but never diverging for long from or losing sight of the central character of Trajan, unlike some historical biographies which tend to spend an equal amount of time describing surrounding events or culture (not that there's anything wrong with that but it tends to just make up page count for the shortfall in information regarding the character in question).
Using the information that is there the author tires to the best of his ability to dissect and provide explanations for the many policies and acts of Trajans reign, whilst also avoiding certain topics which he feels is impossible for us to truly comprehend at this point in time due to lack of source material or physical evidence.
Perhaps what I most enjoyed about this book is that Bennett has attempted to create and demonstrate a character that was a historical Trajan, looking at the man and human being, rather than simply a Roman Emperor. Yes he admits that Trajan had many faults of his own, and was in many ways on paper no better or worse than many of the Emperors that went before or after him, but at the same time he attempts to discover the man behind the veil. He looks at many of Trajans acts, such as the 'alimentia' welfare system, the construction of new ports, and the repairs of roads among others, as the humanitarian aspects of Trajans character, not just as a means of ancient political propaganda. Throughout his work he demonstrates the consciousnesses which Trajan, as the 'Princeps inter Pares' had for the people of the Empire, and that Romes manifest destiny was more than just to rule the world, but also to make the best of it available to all who lived within the empire. The benefits this had on his personal image meanwhile was just a natural, and hoped for, bi-product. At the same time Bennett demonstrates that not even Trajan was so perfect as to be free from the corruption of absolute power as seen by his Parthian War and his desire to equate himself with the Olympians. But it is up to the individual reader to decide their feelings on this matter.
Over all Bennett has created in Trajan a human being, something difficult to create in historical scholarly works which tend to avoid casting personifications as such and rather try to balance why for why in the political or social sense, and tend to use the distance of time between then and now to avoid terms like 'humanitarian' etc. But it is just this which makes Trajan a man worth admiring, a man who, for all his faults, tried to be good, and do what he felt was best for the people of his empire. As such I would recommend this book for anyone who wishes to truly read about the life of a man who, for all the distance between our time and his, reminds us that the ancients were not so different from us, whose ideals and hopes for the future were generally the same, peace and Concorde, but also of the effects which power and glory, or the desire therefor, have on the human condition which unites the people of the past with the people of the present.
March 20, 2017
Very academic. Bennett presents Trajan almost like a museum piece; he’s there somewhere, behind plexiglas, embalmed in the empire, his blood and organs removed – unreachable and untouchable – except maybe, just maybe, when wearing museum gloves.. - While he does so with impeccable scholarship, that doesn’t quite make up for this almost fanatically punctilious treatment of one of the major Roman emperors. Even the Dacian wars are described in a manner that makes them about as exciting as a law book. – It is nevertheless well researched. You get a good impression of how the expanding empire was managed; Trajan’s construction projects, financial policy and legal reforms are given due attention, and as well how the liberalitas of his regime allowed for a flourishing of literature – perhaps well symbolized by the Ulpian library that was integrated into the impressive Forum Traiani. Bennett makes an interesting comparison between the Forum and the adjacent Markets of Trajan, built in a radically different and novel style, and signalling that times were also changing amidst the prosperity and stability of the regime. (Though a degree in architecture could come in handy for it to be smooth reading or even appreciate his descriptions of those two structures.) His discussion of the Arch of Trajan at Beneventum is fascinating, and also a lot more accessible to the general reader. The 24 plates are useful, and the maps and figures are good.
Machiavelli coined the term "Five Good Emperors", including Trajan among them, and it would appear that Bennett primarily aims to explore whether Trajan really deserves to be considered one of the good emperors. Apparently, at least to a large degree, he does; and Bennett establishes that this assessment is not due to a dearth of available information, but based on a sound evaluation of his regime – although he also judges Trajan’s reign to be as autocratic as that of Domitian, only going about it more subtly and indirectly. - In the final chapter (titled "A Perfect Prince?"), Bennett comments regarding Trajan’s Parthian war: "It seems to have been brought about by the need for personal glory alone, a contemporary Falklands Factor, and conforms to a worrying and well-recognized tendency among established political leaders of any period, if especially so of the present, to seek internal prestige by diverting attention away from matters at home and interfering in the affairs of foreign states." – This comparison between Roman imperial policy and that of "political leaders of any period" might be stretching it a bit far. And perhaps Bennett's way of judging a matter such as this is also a contributing factor to why Trajan, the man himself, remains relatively obscure throughout the pages of this book – and it’s more for this reason, rather than because of the excessive dryness of the text, that I ultimately found this (imperial) biography of Trajan a bit of a disappointment. He deserves better.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Machiavelli coined the term "Five Good Emperors", including Trajan among them, and it would appear that Bennett primarily aims to explore whether Trajan really deserves to be considered one of the good emperors. Apparently, at least to a large degree, he does; and Bennett establishes that this assessment is not due to a dearth of available information, but based on a sound evaluation of his regime – although he also judges Trajan’s reign to be as autocratic as that of Domitian, only going about it more subtly and indirectly. - In the final chapter (titled "A Perfect Prince?"), Bennett comments regarding Trajan’s Parthian war: "It seems to have been brought about by the need for personal glory alone, a contemporary Falklands Factor, and conforms to a worrying and well-recognized tendency among established political leaders of any period, if especially so of the present, to seek internal prestige by diverting attention away from matters at home and interfering in the affairs of foreign states." – This comparison between Roman imperial policy and that of "political leaders of any period" might be stretching it a bit far. And perhaps Bennett's way of judging a matter such as this is also a contributing factor to why Trajan, the man himself, remains relatively obscure throughout the pages of this book – and it’s more for this reason, rather than because of the excessive dryness of the text, that I ultimately found this (imperial) biography of Trajan a bit of a disappointment. He deserves better.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
June 27, 2020
Short version: This book goes so deep into mind numbing details that it completely forgets it's main point, writing about Trajan.
Long version: I picked this book because I wanted to know more about Trajan and specifically about the Dacian campaigns.
Unfortunately, the dacian campaigns only make up about 20 pages of the 200+ pages. So what does this book cover then?
It's mainly one long list of offices and positions. And it goes into endless detail who was occupying those positions, citing names and titles. Or it just drones on about some specific working of the empire.
And in all this, Trajan always hovers just out of view. You learn about people during his reign, many quotes by Pliny. But never do you really follow Trajan himself or do you know his motives.
If I compare this to Biographies of Augustus and Caesar by Adrian Goldsworthy, than this book is just a horrible slog where you don't really learn all that much about Trajan. Instead of a nice flowing narrative about a very famous emperor.
Long version: I picked this book because I wanted to know more about Trajan and specifically about the Dacian campaigns.
Unfortunately, the dacian campaigns only make up about 20 pages of the 200+ pages. So what does this book cover then?
It's mainly one long list of offices and positions. And it goes into endless detail who was occupying those positions, citing names and titles. Or it just drones on about some specific working of the empire.
And in all this, Trajan always hovers just out of view. You learn about people during his reign, many quotes by Pliny. But never do you really follow Trajan himself or do you know his motives.
If I compare this to Biographies of Augustus and Caesar by Adrian Goldsworthy, than this book is just a horrible slog where you don't really learn all that much about Trajan. Instead of a nice flowing narrative about a very famous emperor.
May 2, 2019
Marcus Ulpius Traianus, underdog-turned-imperator of the Roman and auxiliary forces, autocrat, statesman, benefactor of the masses and ultimately, the best ruler optimus princeps who secured the safety of the empire by bringing Dacia, Arabia, Assyria and Mesopotamia into Rome's fold.
Designated as a novus homo, a new man, as a result of his noble origins rooted in an Iberian veteran's colony established by Scipio in the wake of his triumph against Hannibal and Carthage, Trajan and his father's military service in the dynamic Syrian frontier allowed them to prove their value and loyalty as Augustus' volatile principate underwent dynastic change and short-lived civil wars. His maturity in age and extensive military experience proved crucial in how he ruled and cemented the power arrangement between the princeps and the senate. Despite needing to show brutality to renegade foes who'd broken oaths and harmed Romans, he demonstrated a true sense of comradery among the men he fought with at the vanguard. His humanity and integrity was most apparent in the legal system, he brought an end to anonymous accusations and followed the law to the letter, unless, surprisingly, if human error or mistakes could be proven. The earliest non-Semitic attestation to Christians features in an intriguing case demonstrating the complex nature between Roman personality cults and the Oriental habit of worshipping rulers as living gods. An unspecified group of Christians had refused to make a sacrifice in honour of the emperor in Asia, an act tantamount to heresy and treason in the eyes of the local Hellenised population. Being reported to him by his friend and governor, Pliny, Trajan simply ordered that if the accused recanted their statements and performed the ritual, they were exonerated, if not, they were deemed guilty as charged. Donations of food and the hundreds of days of public festivals were part and parcel of his rule, too, as he knew that bread and games were needed to maintain the fragile peace in the wake of Nero and Domitian's tumultuous reigns. Abandoning infants and children to die as a result of exposure was outlawed and various public works were completed or initiated. Unlike the dystopic palaces or golden statues of former autocrats, these were to benefit the public by increasing the fresh water supply, containing the Tiber's devastating flood waters or increasing the maritime hubs' capacities.
His arrangement with the senate ensured that they'd be consulted with on many important decisions and they retained their own powers, an act which was applauded for its sincerity and "Romaness". The reality, however, is that he used his power to install his allkes and confidantes in key positions of government to ensure that what he desired was sanctioned. This is not necessarily a bad form of autocracy given his frugality, generosity and diligent military campaigns. He decisively defeated the Dacians, a war gloriously immortalised in the eponymous column in Rome, peacefully annexed the Nabataen kingdom in the south-eastern rim of the Levant and perhaps, greatest of all, smashed the Parthian confederation and annexed their capital territory.
Designated as a novus homo, a new man, as a result of his noble origins rooted in an Iberian veteran's colony established by Scipio in the wake of his triumph against Hannibal and Carthage, Trajan and his father's military service in the dynamic Syrian frontier allowed them to prove their value and loyalty as Augustus' volatile principate underwent dynastic change and short-lived civil wars. His maturity in age and extensive military experience proved crucial in how he ruled and cemented the power arrangement between the princeps and the senate. Despite needing to show brutality to renegade foes who'd broken oaths and harmed Romans, he demonstrated a true sense of comradery among the men he fought with at the vanguard. His humanity and integrity was most apparent in the legal system, he brought an end to anonymous accusations and followed the law to the letter, unless, surprisingly, if human error or mistakes could be proven. The earliest non-Semitic attestation to Christians features in an intriguing case demonstrating the complex nature between Roman personality cults and the Oriental habit of worshipping rulers as living gods. An unspecified group of Christians had refused to make a sacrifice in honour of the emperor in Asia, an act tantamount to heresy and treason in the eyes of the local Hellenised population. Being reported to him by his friend and governor, Pliny, Trajan simply ordered that if the accused recanted their statements and performed the ritual, they were exonerated, if not, they were deemed guilty as charged. Donations of food and the hundreds of days of public festivals were part and parcel of his rule, too, as he knew that bread and games were needed to maintain the fragile peace in the wake of Nero and Domitian's tumultuous reigns. Abandoning infants and children to die as a result of exposure was outlawed and various public works were completed or initiated. Unlike the dystopic palaces or golden statues of former autocrats, these were to benefit the public by increasing the fresh water supply, containing the Tiber's devastating flood waters or increasing the maritime hubs' capacities.
His arrangement with the senate ensured that they'd be consulted with on many important decisions and they retained their own powers, an act which was applauded for its sincerity and "Romaness". The reality, however, is that he used his power to install his allkes and confidantes in key positions of government to ensure that what he desired was sanctioned. This is not necessarily a bad form of autocracy given his frugality, generosity and diligent military campaigns. He decisively defeated the Dacians, a war gloriously immortalised in the eponymous column in Rome, peacefully annexed the Nabataen kingdom in the south-eastern rim of the Levant and perhaps, greatest of all, smashed the Parthian confederation and annexed their capital territory.
July 28, 2022
This book is purely scholarly. It does not tell a story, but analyses it. It gets a 3.5 out of 5 stars because it tells you everything you need to know about Trajan, the environment in which he ruled, the regime which he promulgated, and the policies and wars he employed and initiated respectively. I personally found Trajan an enigmatic figure in my stock of Ancient Roman knowledge, therefore my interest in learning more about this man's life. I am glad that I spent some effort (despite busy with work) in getting into this book. I am not gonna lie, it was difficult a third of the time reading it. But it did not fail to honestly convey what we know and don't know about this one of a kind emperor. He was comparable to Caesar, both in terms to his somewhat humanitarian concern for the plebs within Rome and without, and his hypocritical but extremely effective propaganda. Also, he was remarkably conscientious considering the expectations of a leader in such a politically cut throat system. This book will be beneficial to anyone with an interest in the man, but more so to understand Rome and its empire during the years prior, during and after Trajan's stint as Princeps in Ancient Rome. A fantastic read!
November 7, 2025
I've found this quite messy to be honest. Don't go into this thinking it'll be a biography even if it has that in the series title. Sometimes it goes into too much detail about things that do not really matter that much, and only mentioning specific events quite shortly in comparison. There is a lot of information about so many Roman systems, be it taxing, adlection, tradition; so it's not empty knowledge, but do we really need a list of every single person that held office in some place that doesn't really matter to the actual life story of Trajan that much?
I found myself skipping lots of pages for this reason, and quite honestly I felt like reading the Wikipedia page for him might have worked better for what I looked for.
I found myself skipping lots of pages for this reason, and quite honestly I felt like reading the Wikipedia page for him might have worked better for what I looked for.
January 13, 2018
This book is a valuable historical sketch of one of Rome's truly significant emperors, ushering in a half century of good rule. I read this for research on my future publication "The Road Leading Back to Rome," and part of that setting will be in Mesopotamia (Iraq), after the Roman invasion of 115AD. I wanted to ha ve an order of battle of legions involved, their commanders if possible, and the general ebb and flow of the war, political motivations, etc. I got that and much, much more. If you are a Roman-era history buff this is the book for you
January 5, 2023
I write fiction stories as a hobby, so I am researching ancient Roman times for back ground material.
Trajan actually comes a little later than the period I was researching, wow, this history is more fascinating than make believe. The Romans left us a wealth of writing; right down to who had traffic duty on any particular day,2000 years ago. This book provides a real under the hood look at day to day workings of Roman government, providing informed guesses as to some motivations on the part of Emperor Trajan and other officials, when absolute fact cannot be verified. This book will sit you down within Trajans' time period and give you a front row seat into what was going on at the local level and all directions outward from Rome : militarily, culturally, and politically,
Trajan actually comes a little later than the period I was researching, wow, this history is more fascinating than make believe. The Romans left us a wealth of writing; right down to who had traffic duty on any particular day,2000 years ago. This book provides a real under the hood look at day to day workings of Roman government, providing informed guesses as to some motivations on the part of Emperor Trajan and other officials, when absolute fact cannot be verified. This book will sit you down within Trajans' time period and give you a front row seat into what was going on at the local level and all directions outward from Rome : militarily, culturally, and politically,
January 15, 2013
Practically the only book on Trajan made (at least in the year I read it) which was rather disappointing. Still, a rather good read about a man who was probably loved by the people as much as Augustus, and brought not only conquest and land to Rome, but a new found "European" respect for Rome, especially in the East.
August 26, 2012
Good review of Trajan's life with a lean towards an imperialistic concept of the Roman Empire.
July 5, 2025
Non est ad astra mollis e terris via
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