Traian !Cel mai de succes-IMPARAT -ROMAN !

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“All these poor Greeks want a gymnasium. Well, they will have to content themselves with one that is within their means.”

Word of Trajan’s adoption, and thus rise to the role of imperial heir, was brought to him in Germania by his loyal military tribune and cousin, Hadrian. Continuing his successful management of the region throughout the remainder of Nerva’s reign, he was gifted with the cognomen ‘Germanicus’ for his success along the Rhine. When news of the emperor’s death reached him, Trajan made a deliberately slow journey to Rome, likely assuring the loyalty of the Rhine and Danube legions in case his leadership was disputed. Among his early acts was having the Praetorian Prefect Aelianus attend him in Germania, where he was promptly executed for his role in the siege of the Imperial Palace.

Trajan granted money to the Plebs when he entered Rome, though halved the usual donation to the troops. Following on from the antagonism of Domitian, Trajan made a great show of being a ‘reluctant ruler’, and needing the support of the Senate. Successfully wooing the aristocracy back to his side, he nonetheless ruled essentially as an autocrat. His actions instead reduced senatorial power, such as bringing their provinces directly into the imperial sphere of rule, ending generations of corruption caused by senatorial mismanagement. His popularity still rose, largely due to his returning of confiscated property, and in 105 the Senate awarded him the title “Optimus” – meaning “the best”.

One of Trajan’s early objectives was to deal with profligate Greece. Despite being a Roman province for over two centuries, the Greeks still considered themselves quasi-autonomous, and still looked down on the Romans who had gone on to dominate the previously-Hellenic world. Trajan established a strong support base among the senatorial families of the Italian oligarchy, and looked to do the same across the Adriatic. In Greece though, the interests of Rome did not align with the interests of the oligarchs, who wanted more independence for their cities.

In addition to wanting to ensure greater freedom from Rome, such as tax exemptions, the Greek cities existed in a state of fierce rivalry and competition with each other, dating back over half a millennium to the Peloponnesian Wars. The impact of this competition and desire for autonomy was twofold – fewer Greeks took to Roman administrative positions, while excessive spending was rife in an attempt to better rival cities with ostentatious displays of wealth and art, regardless of whether or not the city could afford it. In fact, the lack of Greeks in administrative positions left the province with a dearth of money, and the Roman economy relied on the private spending of local oligarchs to complement the spending of the state. Since the age of competing generals like Caesar and Pompey, and following the trend set by Augustus, wealthy Romans spent huge amounts of their own fortune on the cities roads, baths, aqueducts, walls, etc – and the same was expected in the provinces. Even under the republican system, aspiring senators often racked up huge debts in the junior roles such as quaestor and military tribune as they sought to prove the improvements delivered during their tenure. People often wonder how the Roman economy was sustainable with such heavy investment in military – the answer is that state spending was so heavily supplemented by the spending of the oligarchs.

Trajan’s measures for returning Greece to solvency included reducing the age to stand for administrative positions, bringing more sons of wealthy families into the Roman fold. This was seen as preferable to inviting poorer families into such positions, who would lack the finances to complement civic spending. He also decreed that when a particular public building was promised, it was the duty of not just said magistrate, but also his successors, to deliver it. Roman exiles in Greece were allowed to return to Italia, and Trajan sought to further integrate Greece with Rome, rather than allowing the haughty attitude of Greek supremacy, which fuelled a desire for greater autonomy, to remain. He created to office of ‘corrector’ to curb political movements in Greece, with the role used essentially to tame rebellious senators, who would act as correctores, and Greeks, who they would monitor. He also opened the Senate to more Greeks, with an unprecedented 14 joining from the Greek-speaking half of the empire. Incorporating such powerful and influential families into the Senate helped to spread Roman influence in the eastern provinces, though led to claims that Trajan was abandoning Roman traditions.

The culmination of these administrative changes would finally allow Trajan to focus on his real ambition – the legions. His gaze turned east, to the Danube where Rome had faced incursions for over a decade. Domition had expelled the Dacian king Decebalus from the Roman province of Moesia, and kept him at bay by paying a generous stipend for him to become a ‘client king’, in turn allowing the legions passage through Dacia to attack the further tribes of Macromanni, Quadi, and Sarmatians. The Senate never forgave Domitian for paying ‘tribute’ to a ‘barbarian king’, and when the Kingdom of Dacia – not roving tribe like many of the Germanic groups further north, but a settled state – began to forge their own alliances, Trajan had the pretext he needed for war.