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Trajan – Roman Emperor: 98-117 A.D. –
Bronze Drachm 34mm (22.68 grams) EGYPT,
Alexandria mint, dated RY 15 = 111/112 A.D.
Reference: Köln 581; Dattari (Savio) 770; K&G 27. 389
AVT. TRAIAN. CЄB. ΓЄPM. ΔAKIK., Laureate head right.
Emperor, holding palm and scepter, driving quadriga of horses right; L IE
(date) above.
You are bidding on the exact item pictured,
provided with a Certificate of Authenticity and Lifetime Guarantee of
Authenticity.
A
quadriga (Latin
quadri-, four, and iugum, yoke) is a car or
chariot
drawn by four
horses
abreast (the
Roman Empire
‘s equivalent of
Ancient Greek
tethrippon
). It was raced in the
Ancient Olympic Games
and other contests. It is
represented in profile as the chariot of
gods and heroes
on
Greek vases
and in
bas-relief
. The quadriga was adopted in
ancient Roman
chariot racing
. Quadrigas were emblems of
triumph;
Victory
and
Fame
often are depicted as the triumphant woman
driving it. In
classical mythology
, the quadriga is the
chariot of the gods;
Apollo
was depicted driving his quadriga across
the heavens, delivering daylight and dispersing the night. The word quadriga
may refer to the chariot alone, the four horses without it, or the combination.
Marcus Ulpius Nerva Traianus
, commonly known as Trajan (18
September, 53 – 8 August, 117), was a
 Roman
Emperor who reigned from AD 98 until his death in AD 117. Born Marcus Ulpius Traianus into a non-patrician
family
in the
Hispania Baetica
province (modern day
Spain
), Trajan
rose to prominence during the reign of emperor
Domitian
,
serving as a general in the
Roman army
along the
German frontier
, and successfully crushing the revolt of
Antonius Saturninus
in 89. On September 18, 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 January 27, 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
. It was as a military commander however that Trajan
celebrated his greatest
triumphs
. In 101, he launched a
punitive expedition
into the kingdom of
Dacia
against
king Decebalus
, defeating the Dacian army near
Tapae
in 102, and finally conquering Dacia completely in 106. In 107, Trajan
pushed further east and annexed the
Nabataean kingdom
, establishing the province of
Arabia Petraea
. After a period of relative peace within the Empire, he
launched his final campaign in 113 against
Parthia
,
advancing as far as the city of
Susa in 116, and
expanding the Roman Empire to its greatest extent. During this campaign Trajan
was struck by illness, and late in 117, while sailing back to Rome, he died of a
stroke
on
August 9
,
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 (not having a
biological heir) Publius Aelius Hadrianus
—commonly known as Hadrian.
As an emperor, Trajan’s reputation has endured – he is one of the few rulers
whose reputation has survived the scrutiny of nineteen centuries of history.
Every new emperor after him was honoured by the Senate with the prayer
felicior Augusto, melior Traiano, meaning “may he be 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.
Early life and
rise to power
Trajan was born on September 18, 53 in the Roman province of
Hispania Baetica
(in what is now
Andalusia
in modern Spain), a province that was thoroughly Romanized and called southern
Hispania, in the city of
Italica
,
where the
Italian
families were paramount. Of
Italian
stock himself, Trajan is frequently but misleadingly designated the
first provincial emperor.
Trajan was the son of
Marcia
and
Marcus Ulpius Traianus
, a prominent
senator
and general from the famous
Ulpia
gens.
Trajan himself was just one of many well-known Ulpii in a line that continued
long after his own death. His elder sister was
Ulpia Marciana
and his niece was
Salonina Matidia
. The
patria
of
the Ulpii was Italica
, in Spanish Baetica,
where their ancestors had settled late in the third century B.C. This indicates
that the Italian origin was paramount, yet it has recently been cogently argued
that the family’s ancestry was local, with Trajan senior actually a Traius who
was adopted into the family of the Ulpii.
As a young man, he rose through the ranks of the
Roman army
,
serving in some of the most contentious parts of the Empire’s frontier. In
76–77, Trajan’s father was
Governor
of
Syria
(Legatus
pro praetore Syriae), where Trajan himself remained as
Tribunus
legionis. Trajan was nominated as
Consul
and
brought
Apollodorus of Damascus
with him to
Rome around 91.
Along the
Rhine River
, he took part in the Emperor
Domitian
‘s
wars while under Domitian’s successor,
Nerva
, who was
unpopular with the army and needed to do something to gain their support. He
accomplished this by naming Trajan as his adoptive son and successor in the
summer of 97. According to the
Augustan History
, it was the future Emperor
Hadrian
who
brought word to Trajan of his adoption.
When Nerva died on January 27, 98, the highly respected Trajan succeeded without
incident.
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