Trajan

(reigned a.d. 98-117)

   One of the most accomplished of the early Roman emperors, who successfully conquered Mesopotamia, although Roman control of that region turned out to be only temporary. Trajan (Marcus Ulpius Trajanus) was born in a.d. 53 in Spain, making him the first emperor born outside of Italy. After a successful military career as a young man, he was adopted by the emperor Nerva in 97 and ascended the throne after Nerva's death the following year. Trajan soon showed that he was a constructive ruler by launching large-scale building programs and running the realm's economy honestly and effectively. In fact, later generations of Romans and other Europeans came to see him as one of Rome's "five good emperors," the other four being his predecessor Nerva and his successors Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius. Trajan also showed that Mary Evans Picture Library.Reproduced by permission. he was a strong and ambitious emperor by leading military expeditions designed to expand Rome's borders. He overran Dacia in eastern Europe between 101 and 106 and turned the area into a Roman province.

   Then Trajan set his sights on the Near East and parthian-controlled Mesopotamia. The Romans had installed a friendly client king in Armenia, lying north of the Mesopotamian plains, giving them an indirect foothold in the region. In the year 114 Trajan used the charge that the parthians had forced that client ruler out of power as an excuse to invade parthian territory. At the head of eleven legions (some sixty thousand troops), he marched southward from Armenia into Mesopotamia. The Romans swiftly captured the parthian capital of ctesiphon and in less than a year were in control of all of Mesopotamia. Perhaps to emphasize the extent of his achievement, Trajan marched to the shores of the Persian Gulf, a symbolic demonstration of power that had been enacted in the past by numerous Mesopotamian conquerors. At this point in time, thanks to Trajan's recent conquests, the Roman Empire had reached its largest extent ever - a total of some 3.5 million square miles (9.1 million sq. km).

   The main reason for Trajan's success in Mesopotamia was the inability of the Parthians to mount a credible counterof-fensive. This was partly because their realm was feudal and decentralized; most military contingents were under the command of local lords and governors, who had been slow to mount a coordinated defensive. So the Parthian king, Osroes I (reigned 109 - 129), was eager to end hostilities and sign a peace treaty with the Roman leader.

   Trajan did not maintain the upper hand long, however. Late in 116, people across Mesopotamia rose in revolt against the Roman occupiers, and in the following year Trajan was unable to capture the well-defended Parthian city of Hatra. In fact, the emperor narrowly escaped death by a Parthian arrow while prosecuting the failed siege. He eventually decided it would be prudent to withdraw some of his forces; and on the way back to Rome in 117 he suffered a debilitating stroke and died. ironically, all of Trajan's warlike endeavors in Mesopotamia came to nothing in the end. His successor, Hadrian (reigned 117 - 138), felt that Rome had overextended itself and gave Mesopotamia back to the Parthians.

   See also: Mesopotamia, history of; Parthian Empire; Romans