Trajan (Ruled A.D. 98-117): His Conquests, Rule, Letters and the Provinces

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TRAJAN (A.D. 98-117)

20120224-Trajan-Xanten.JPG
Trajan
Trajan (A.D. 20-130, ruled from A.D. 98-117) was the last great Roman conqueror. He reduced Dacia (Romania) to a province in two wars, ending in A.D. 106, an achievement commemorated by Trajan's column, which still stands in Rome. Born to Roman parents in what is now Spain, Trajan was the first Roman emperor to come from an outlying province. He extended the Roman Empire to it furthest extent by conquering Dacia and Mesopotamia, and raised impressive monuments and buildings in Rome, largely paid for with gold and silver plundered from Dacia. He ruled until A.D. 117, when he fell ill and died.

Among the Five Good Emperors,” Trajan acquired the title Optimus, or “best.” Some describe as the most significant Roman ruler after Julius Caesar and Augustus. Kristin Baird Rattini, National Geographic History, It was Trajan who not only expanded the borders of the Roman Empire to their greatest extent but also governed with singular benevolence and generosity toward his subjects. Trajan’s selection as emperor by Nerva set an important precedent for Rome’s rulers. A military commander with Spanish roots, Trajan was the first emperor born outside Italy. The message of his elevation was clear: Qualified, educated men from throughout the empire could aspire to the highest office of the land. [Source Kristin Baird Rattini, National Geographic History, June 25, 2019]

The rule of Trajan and his successor Hadrian (A.D. 98-137) is generally regarded as the golden period of the Roman Empire. Peace and prosperity reigned as citizenship was granted to millions of people of different ethnic backgrounds from numerous provinces and gods and ideas moved across the Mediterranean and through the empire.

Adopted by Nerva, he was accepted by the senate. He made himself popular with the army and with the great body of the people. He was a Spaniard by birth; and the fact that he was the first emperor who was not a native of Italy, shows that the distinction between Romans and provincials was passing away. He was a brave general, a wise statesman, and a successful administrator. He continued the efforts of Nerva to remedy the evils which the early despotism had brought upon Rome. To the people he restored the elective power; to the senate, liberty of speech and of action; to the magistrates, their former authority. He abolished the law of treason (lex maiestatis), and assumed his proper place as the chief magistrate of the empire. He was a generous patron of literature and of art. He also desired to relieve the condition of the poor. It is said that five thousand children received from him their daily allowance of food. So highly was Trajan esteemed by the Romans that to his other imperial titles was added that of “Optimus” (the Best). [Source: “Outlines of Roman History” by William C. Morey, Ph.D., D.C.L. New York, American Book Company (1901)]

Rome and Italy and the provinces all received the benefit of his wise administration; and the empire reached its highest point of material grandeur. Roads were constructed for the aid of the provincials. He restored the harbors of Italy, and improved the water supply of Rome. He built two new baths, one of which was for the exclusive use of women. The greatest monument of Trajan was the new Forum, in which a splendid column was erected to commemorate his victories. \~\

Websites on Ancient Rome: Internet Ancient History Sourcebook: Rome sourcebooks.fordham.edu ; Internet Ancient History Sourcebook: Late Antiquity sourcebooks.fordham.edu ; BBC Ancient Rome bbc.co.uk/history; Perseus Project - Tufts University; perseus.tufts.edu ; Lacus Curtius penelope.uchicago.edu; The Internet Classics Archive classics.mit.edu ; Bryn Mawr Classical Review bmcr.brynmawr.edu; Cambridge Classics External Gateway to Humanities Resources web.archive.org; Ancient Rome resources for students from the Courtenay Middle School Library web.archive.org ; History of ancient Rome OpenCourseWare from the University of Notre Dame web.archive.org ; United Nations of Roma Victrix (UNRV) History unrv.com

Trajan’s Conquests in Eastern Europe and the Middle East

Since the death of Augustus there had been made no important additions to the Roman territory, except Britain. But under Trajan the Romans became once more a conquering people. The new emperor carried his conquests across the Danube and acquired the province of Dacia. He then extended his arms into Asia, and brought into subjection Armenia, Mesopotamia, and Assyria, as the result of a short war with the Parthians. Under Trajan the boundaries of the empire reached their greatest extent. \~\


Roman Empire at its height, in AD 117 under Trajan

Trajan extended the Roman Empire into present-day Romania, Hungary, and Bulgaria in A.D. 106 by defeating Germanic tribes in two Dacian wars (101-102 and 105-106). To achieve victory Trajan built a bridge across the Danube, a startling achievement for its time. The bridge and battles from the Dacian campaign are immortalized in 200 meters of scenes that spiral around the 100-foot-high Trajan column. The campaign ended when the Dacian king, Decebalus, was overthrown.

After the conquest of Dacia, the region north of the Danube became a Roman province. Rome shifted the majority of its defenses from the Rhine to the Danube, which became heavily fortified to protect Roman territory from hostile Gothic and Germanic tribes in the north.Trajan's bridge was torn down by Hadrian who felt that it might facilitate a Barbarian conquest of Rome. Roman monuments can be found all over Bulgaria and Romania. The Romanian language evolved from the Roman's Latin tongue.

The Roman city of Carnuntum, which spread out over an area of four square miles and had a large legionary fort and an amphitheater that could accommodate 8,000 people, was built on the Danube about 25 miles from present-day Vienna. It was occupied from A.D. 14 to 433, when it was sacked by the Huns.

Trajan's armies extended the Roman Empire to the Persian Gulf by capturing Armenia in A.D. 114 and defeating several Middle eastern kingdoms, including the arch rivals of the Romans, the Parthians. Trajan died in 117 without yet receiving the news of these conquests. Qasr Bashir was a Roman fort on the eastern fringes of Roman Empire in present-day Jordan. Covering three quarters of an acre, it embraced stone walls and three-story-high towers and was situated on a low hill surrounded by rocks and sand.

Roman Provinces


Trajan's column

Chief Roman Provinces (with dates of their acquisition or organization): Total, 32. Many of the main provinces were subdivided into smaller provinces, each under a separate governor—making the total number of provincial governors more than one hundred. [Source: “Outlines of Roman History” by William C. Morey, Ph.D., D.C.L. New York, American Book Company (1901) \~]

EUROPEAN PROVINCES
1) Western.
Spain (205-19 B.C.).
Gaul (France, 120-17 B.C.).
Britain (A.D. 43-84).
2) Central.
Rhaetia et Vindelicia (roughly Switzerland, northern Italy15 B.C.).
Noricum (Austria, Slovenia, 15 B.C.).
Pannonia (western Hungary, eastern Austria, northern Croatia, north-western Serbia, northern Slovenia, western Slovakia and northern Bosnia and Herzegovina. A.D. 10).
3) Eastern.
Illyricum (northern Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and coastal Croatia, 167-59 B.C.).
Macedonia (northern Greece, modern Macedonia, 146 B.C.).
Achaia (western Greece, 146 B.C.).
Moesia (Central Serbia, Kosovo, northern modern Macedonia, northern Bulgaria and Romanian Dobrudja 20 B.C.).
Thrace (northeast Greece, A.D. 40).
Dacia (Romania, A.D. 107). \~\

AFRICAN PROVINCES
Africa proper (Libya, former Carthage, 146 B.C.).
Cyrenaica and Crete (74, 63 B.C.).
Numidia (Algeria, small parts of Tunisia, Libya, 46 B.C.).
Egypt (30 B.C.).
Mauretania (western Algeria, Morocco, A.D. 42). \~\

ASIATIC PROVINCES
1) In Asia Minor (Anatolia, modern Turkey)
Asia proper (western Turkey133 B.C.).
Bithynia et Pontus (northern Turkey, south of the Black Sea, 74, 65 B.C.).
Cilicia (southeast coast of Turkey, 67 B.C.).
Galatia (central Turkey, 25 B.C.).
Pamphylia et Lycia (southwest Turkey, 25, A.D. 43).
Cappadocia (eastern Turkey, A.D. 17).
2) In Southwestern Asia.
Syria (64 B.C.).
Judea (Israel, 63 - A.D. 70).
Arabia Petraea (A.D. 105).
Armenia (A.D. 114).
Mesopotamia (A.D. 115).
Assyria (A.D. 115). \~\

ISLAND PROVINCES
Sicily (241 B.C.).
Sardinia et Corsica (238 B.C.).
Cyprus (58 B.C.). \~\

Art and Architecture Under Trajan

Roman Art: During this period Roman art reached its highest development. The art of the Romans, as we have before noticed, was modeled in great part after that of the Greeks. While lacking the fine sense of beauty which the Greeks possessed, the Romans yet expressed in a remarkable degree the ideas of massive strength and of imposing dignity. In their sculpture and painting they were least original, reproducing the figures of Greek deities, like those of Venus and Apollo, and Greek mythological scenes, as shown in the wall paintings at Pompeii. Roman sculpture is seen to good advantage in the statues and busts of the emperors, and in such reliefs as those on the arch of Titus and the column of Trajan. \~\

But it was in architecture that the Romans excelled; and by their splendid works they have taken rank among the world’s greatest builders. We have already seen the progress made during the later Republic and under Augustus. With Trajan, Rome became a city of magnificent public buildings. The architectural center of the city was the Roman Forum (see frontispiece), with the additional Forums of Julius, Augustus, Vespasian, Nerva, and Trajan. Surrounding these were the temples, the basilicas or halls of justice, porticoes, and other public buildings. The most conspicuous buildings which would attract the eyes of one standing in the Forum were the splendid temples of Jupiter and Juno upon the Capitoline hill. While it is true that the Romans obtained their chief ideas of architectural beauty from the Greeks, it is a question whether Athens, even in the time of Pericles, could have presented such a scene of imposing grandeur as did Rome in the time of Trajan and Hadrian, with its forums, temples, aqueducts, basilicas, palaces, porticoes, amphitheaters, theaters, circuses, baths, columns, triumphal arches, and tombs. \~\

Trajan’s Conquest of the Dacians

Trajan extended the empire’s reach in Mesopotamia as far as the Persian Gulf, but he’s better remembered for his campaign against the Dacians in present-day Romania, who frequently raided Roman frontier towns. Trajan ended a two-year incursion into Dacia in 103 A.D. by signing a peace treaty with Decebalus, the Dacian king. The Dacians, however, broke the treaty. When Trajan returned to Dacia in 105 A.D. he showed no mercy. [Source: Kristin Baird Rattini, National Geographic History, June 25, 2019]

Andrew Curry wrote in National Geographic: “Trajan’s war on the Dacians, a civilization in what is now Romania, was the defining event of his 19-year rule. In back-to-back wars fought between A.D. 101 and 106, the emperor Trajan mustered tens of thousands of Roman troops, crossed the Danube River on two of the longest bridges the ancient world had ever seen, defeated a mighty barbarian empire on its mountainous home turf twice, then systematically wiped it from the face of Europe. [Source: Andrew Curry, National Geographic, April 2015 |*|]

“From their powerful realm north of the Danube River, the Dacians regularly raided the Roman Empire. Among Roman politicians, “Dacian” was synonymous with double-dealing. The historian Tacitus called them “a people which never can be trusted.” They were known for squeezing the equivalent of protection money out of the Roman Empire while sending warriors to raid its frontier towns. In A.D. 101 Trajan moved to punish the troublesome Dacians.” He “fortified the border and invaded with tens of thousands of troops. After nearly two years of battle Decebalus, the Dacian king, negotiated a treaty with Trajan, then promptly broke it. Trajan returned in 105 and crushed them. |*|

Trajan Improves Roman Infrastructure with the Spoils of War

Kristin Baird Rattini wrote in National Geographic History: When Dacia finally fell, Trajan took home an astounding bounty, estimated by one contemporary account to be half a million pounds of gold and a million pounds of silver. Trajan put the proceeds from the Dacian War to good use throughout the empire. He built roads, bridges, aqueducts, and harbors from Spain to the Balkans to North Africa. In Rome itself, a new aqueduct supplied the city with water from the north. Trajan’s Column towered over a magnificent new forum, which boasted two libraries, a grand civic space, and a colonnaded plaza. [Source: Kristin Baird Rattini, National Geographic History, June 25, 2019]

Showing tremendous generosity to the Roman people, particularly in areas of social welfare, Trajan increased the amount of grain handed out to poor citizens and doled out cash gifts as well. He allowed provinces to keep gold remittances that would normally be sent to the emperor and reduced taxes. Trajan emulated his friend the historian Pliny the Younger by expanding public funds, called alimenta, to care for poor children. In fact, it was Pliny himself who best captured the sum of Trajan’s reign in one of his many letters to the emperor: “May you then, and the world through your means, enjoy every prosperity worthy of your reign.”

Letters Between Trajan and Pliny the Younger

Kristin Baird Rattini wrote in National Geographic History: Much of what historians know about Rome in the time of Emperor Trajan is due to Pliny the Younger—Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus (ca 61–113 A.D.). A noted orator, senator, and administrator, Pliny wrote ten books of letters that combined philosophy, history, and poetry. They expounded on matters ranging from his domestic life to senatorial debates. [Source Kristin Baird Rattini, National Geographic History, June 25, 2019]

The historian William Stearns Davis wrote: “About A.D. 112 Trajan appointed Pliny the Younger, a distinguished Senator and literary man, as governor of Bithynia — a province suffering from previous maladministration. The nature of the governor's problems and the obligation he was under of referring very petty matters to the Emperor appears clearly in the following letters. This correspondence of Trajan and Pliny (given here only in small part) is among the most valuable bits of historical data we have for the whole Imperial Age. [Source: Pliny the Younger (61/62-113 A.D.) and Trajan (r.98-117 A.D.): Letters, Book X. 25ff : “The Correspondence of a Provincial Governor and the Emperor Trajan,” c. 112 A.D.,William Stearns Davis, ed., “Readings in Ancient History: Illustrative Extracts from the Sources,” 2 Vols. (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1912-13), Vol. II: Rome and the West, 196-210, 215-222, 250-251, 289-290, 295-296, 298-300]


Trajan coin

Pliny to Trajan: “The people of Prusa, Sire, have a public bath in a neglected and dilapidated state. They wish - with your kind permission — to restore it; but I think a new one ought to be built, and I reckon you can safely comply with their wishes. [Then the governor names various ways to find the money, especially cutting down the free distribution of oil.]

Trajan to Pliny: “If the building of a new bath will not cripple the finances of Prusa, we can indulge their wishes; only it must be understood that no new taxes are to be raised to meet the cost, and that their contributions for necessary expenses shall not show any falling off.*

Pliny to Trajan: “A desolating fire broke out in Nicomedia, and destroyed a number of private houses, and two public buildings — the almshouse and the temple of Isis — although a road ran between them. The fire was allowed to spread farther than it need, first owing to the violent wind; second, to the laziness of the citizens, it being generally agreed they stood idly by without moving, and simply watched the conflagration. Besides there was not a single public fire engine or bucket in the place, and not one solitary appliance for mastering a fire. However, these will be provided upon orders I have already given. But, Sire, I would have you consider whether you think a fire company of about 150 men ought not to be formed? I will take care that no one not a genuine fireman shall be admitted, and that the guild should not misapply the charter granted it. Again there would be no trouble in keeping an eye on so small a body.

Trajan to Pliny: “You have formed the idea of a possible fire company at Nicomedia on the model of various others already existing; but remember that the province of Bithynia, and especially city-states like Nicomedia, are the prey of factions. Give them the name we may, and however good be the reasons for organization, such associations will soon degenerate into dangerous secret societies. It is better policy to provide fire apparatus, and to encourage property holders to make use of them, and if need comes, press the crowd which collects into the same service.

Pliny to Trajan: “Sire, the people of Nicomedia spent 3,229,000 sesterces [Arkenberg: about $1,857,000 in 1998 dollars] upon an aqueduct, which was left in an unfinished state, and I may say in ruin, and they also levied taxes to the extent of 2,000,000 sesterces [Arkenberg: about $1,543,000 in 1998 dollars] for a second one. This, too, has been abandoned, and to get a water supply those who have wasted these vast sums must go to a new expense. I have visited a splendid clear spring, from which it seems to me the supply ought to be brought to the town [and have formed a scheme that seems practicable].

Trajan to Pliny: “Steps must certainly be taken to provide Nicomedia with a water supply; and I have full confidence you will undertake the duty with all due care. But I profess it is also part of your diligent duty to find out who is to blame for the waste of such sums of money by the people of Nicomedia on their aqueducts, and whether or no there has been any serving of private interests in this beginning and then abandoning of [public] works. See that you bring to my knowledge whatever you find out.

Pliny the Younger (61/62-113 CE): Selected Letters, c 100 CE (Harvard Classics series)Ancient History Sourcebook sourcebooks.fordham.edu;
Selected letters: General (110 letters), and Correspondence with the Emperor Trajan (122 letters). Pliny the Younger (61/62-113 CE) and Trajan (r.98-117 CE): Letters, Book X. 25ff : The Correspondence of a Provincial Governor and the Emperor Trajan, c. 112 CE Ancient History Sourcebook sourcebooks.fordham.edu;
Pliny the Younger (61/62-113 CE): The Letters of Pliny the Consul. With Occasional Remarks., Vol.2, (Tenth Edition), William Melmoth, London (1805) [lightly emended] Book 10 web.archive.org;

Pliny the Younger: Panegyric Addressed to Trajan


Trajan

A panegyric a public speech or published text in praise of someone or something. Pliny the Younger wrote this one for Trajan. “You have spontaneously subjected yourself to the laws, to the laws which, Caesar, no one ever drafted to be binding upon the princeps.(5) But you desire to have no more rights than we (the Senate); and the result is that we would like you to have more. What I now hear for the first time, now learn for the first time, is not, "The princeps is above the laws," but "The laws are above the princeps, and the same restrictions apply to Caesar when consul as to others." He swears fidelity to the laws in the presence of attentive gods-for to whom should they be more attentive than to Caesar? . . .

“Hardly had the first day of your consulship dawned when you entered the senate house and exhorted us, now individually, now all together, to resume our liberty, to take up the duties of imperial administration shared, so to speak, between yourself and us, to watch over the public interests, to rouse ourselves. All emperors before you said about the same, but none before you was believed. People had before their eyes the shipwrecks of many men who sailed along in a deceptive calm and foundered in an unexpected storm.... But you we follow fearlessly and happily, wherever you call us. You order us to be free: we will be. You order us to express our opinions openly: we will pronounce them. It is neither through any cowardice nor through any natural sluggishness that we have remained silent until now; terror and fear and that wretched prudence born of danger warned us to turn our eyes, our ears, our minds, away from the state-in fact, there was no state altogether. But today, relying and leaning upon your right hand and your promises, we unseal our lips closed in long servitude and we loose our tongues paralyzed by so many ills....

“Here is the picture of the father of our state as I for my part seem to have discerned it both from his speech and from the very manner of its presentation. What weight in his ideas, what unaffected genuineness in his words, what earnestness in his voice, what confirmation in his face, what sincerity in his eyes, bearing, gestures, in short in his whole body! He will always remember his advice to us, and he will know that we are obeying him whenever we make use of the liberty he has given us. And there is no fear that he will judge us reckless if we take advantage unhesitatingly of the security of the times, for he remembers that we lived otherwise under an evil princeps.'

“It is our custom to offer public prayers for the eternity of the Empire and the preservation of the emperor . . . "if [he] has ruled the state well and in the interest of all." . . . You reap, Caesar, the most glorious fruit of your preservation from the consent of the gods. For when you stipulate that the gods should preserve you only "if you have ruled the state well and in the interest of all," you are assured that you do rule the state well since they preserve you.'49 And so you pass in security and joy the day which tortured other emperors with worry and fear when in suspense, thunderstruck, uncertain how far they could rely on our patience, they awaited from here and there the messages of public servitude....

“In judicial inquiries, what soft severity [you display], what clemency without weakness! You do not sit as judge intent on enriching your private treasury, and you want no reward for your decision other than to have judged rightly. Litigants stand before you concerned not for their fortunes, but for your good opinion, and they fear not so much what you may think of their case as what you may think of their character. O care truly that of a princeps, and even of a god, to reconcile rival cities, to calm peoples in ferment, less by imperial command than by reason, to impede the injustices of magistrates, to annul everything that ought not have been done, in fine, in the manner of the swiftest star to see all, hear all, and like a divinity be present and be helpful forthwith wherever invoked! Such, I imagine, are the things that the father of the world (i.e., Jupiter) regulates with a nod when he lets his glance fall upon the earth and deigns to count human destinies among his divine occupations. Henceforth free and released in this area he can attend to the sky alone, since he has sent you to fill his role toward the human race. You fulfill that function, and you are worthy of him who entrusted it to you, since each of your days is devoted to our greatest good, to your greatest glory.”

Pliny the Younger as an Administrator for Trajan in Asia Minor


Bithynia was Roman province in the northwest of Asia Minor (present-day Turkey). William Stearns Davis wrote: “About 112 CE. Trajan appointed Pliny the Younger, a distinguished Senator and literary man, as governor of Bithynia — a province suffering from previous maladministration. The nature of the governor's problems and the obligation he was under of referring very petty matters to the Emperor appears clearly in the following letters. This correspondence of Trajan and Pliny (given here only in small part) is among the most valuable bits of historical data we have for the whole Imperial Age.

Pliny the Younger: Letters, X.25 ff: The Correspondence of a Provincial Governor and the Emperor Trajan: Pliny to Trajan: “The people of Prusa, Sire, have a public bath in a neglected and dilapidated state. They wish - with your kind permission — to restore it; but I think a new one ought to be built, and I reckon you can safely comply with their wishes. [Then the governor names various ways to find the money, especially cutting down the free distribution of oil.]” [Source: Pliny the Younger (61/62-113 A.D.) and Trajan (r.98-117 A.D.): Letters, Book X. 25ff : The Correspondence of a Provincial Governor and the Emperor Trajan, c. 112 A.D. William Stearns Davis, ed., “Readings in Ancient History: Illustrative Extracts from the Sources,” 2 Vols. (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1912-13), Vol. II: Rome and the West, 196-210, 215-222, 250-251, 289-290, 295-296, 298-300]

Trajan to Pliny: “If the building of a new bath will not cripple the finances of Prusa, we can indulge their wishes; only it must be understood that no new taxes are to be raised to meet the cost, and that their contributions for necessary expenses shall not show any falling off.”

Pliny to Trajan: “A desolating fire broke out in Nicomedia, and destroyed a number of private houses, and two public buildings — the almshouse and the temple of Isis — although a road ran between them. The fire was allowed to spread farther than it need, first owing to the violent wind; second, to the laziness of the citizens, it being generally agreed they stood idly by without moving, and simply watched the conflagration. Besides there was not a single public fire engine or bucket in the place, and not one solitary appliance for mastering a fire. However, these will be provided upon orders I have already given. But, Sire, I would have you consider whether you think a fire company of about 150 men ought not to be formed? I will take care that no one not a genuine fireman shall be admitted, and that the guild should not misapply the charter granted it. Again there would be no trouble in keeping an eye on so small a body.”

Trajan to Pliny: “You have formed the idea of a possible fire company at Nicomedia on the model of various others already existing; but remember that the province of Bithynia, and especially city-states like Nicomedia, are the prey of factions. Give them the name we may, and however good be the reasons for organization, such associations will soon degenerate into dangerous secret societies. It is better policy to provide fire apparatus, and to encourage property holders to make use of them, and if need comes, press the crowd which collects into the same service.”

Pliny to Trajan: “Sire, a person named Julius Largus of Pontus, whom I have never seen or heard of before, has intrusted me with the management of his property with which he seeks to prove his loyalty to you. For he has asked me in his will to undertake as heir the division of his property, and after keeping 50,000 sesterces, hand over all the remainder to the free cities of Heraclea and Teos. He leaves it to my discretion whether I think it better to erect public works and dedicate them to your glory, or to start an athletic festival, to be held every five years, and to be called the "Trajan Games." I have decided to lay the facts before you and ask your decision.”

Trajan to Pliny: “Julius Largus, in picking you out for your trustworthiness, has acted as though he knew you intimately. So do you consider the circumstances of each place, and the best means of perpetuating his memory, and follow the course you think best.”

Pliny the Younger and Trajan Communicate About Public Works Asia Minor


Pliny the Younger: Letters, X.25 ff: The Correspondence of a Provincial Governor and the Emperor Trajan: Pliny to Trajan: “Sire, the people of Nicomedia spent 3,229,000 sesterces [Arkenberg: about $1,857,000 in 1998 dollars] upon an aqueduct, which was left in an unfinished state, and I may say in ruin, and they also levied taxes to the extent of 2,000,000 sesterces [Arkenberg: about $1,543,000 in 1998 dollars] for a second one. This, too, has been abandoned, and to get a water supply those who have wasted these vast sums must go to a new expense. I have visited a splendid clear spring, from which it seems to me the supply ought to be brought to the town [and have formed a scheme that seems practicable].” [Source: Pliny the Younger (61/62-113 A.D.) and Trajan (r.98-117 A.D.): Letters, Book X. 25ff : The Correspondence of a Provincial Governor and the Emperor Trajan, c. 112 A.D. William Stearns Davis, ed., “Readings in Ancient History: Illustrative Extracts from the Sources,” 2 Vols. (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1912-13), Vol. II: Rome and the West, 196-210, 215-222, 250-251, 289-290, 295-296, 298-300]

Trajan to Pliny: “Steps must certainly be taken to provide Nicomedia with a water supply; and I have full confidence you will undertake the duty with all due care. But I profess it is also part of your diligent duty to find out who is to blame for the waste of such sums of money by the people of Nicomedia on their aqueducts, and whether or no there has been any serving of private interests in this beginning and then abandoning of [public] works. See that you bring to my knowledge whatever you find out.”

Pliny to Trajan: “The theater at Nicaea, Sire, the greater part of which has already been constructed — though it is still unfinished — has already cost over 10,000,000 sesterces [Arkenberg: about $7,500,000 in 1998 dollars] — at least so I am told, for the accounts have not been made out; and I am fearful lest the money has been thrown away. For the building has sunk and there are great gaping crevices to be seen, either because the ground is damp, or owing to the [bad quality] of the stone. [It is doubtful if the affair is worth completing.] Just before I came the Nicaeans also began to restore the public gymnasium, which had been destroyed by fire, on a larger scale than the old building, and they have already disbursed a considerable sum thereon, and I fear to little purpose [for it is very ill constructed]. Moreover the architect — the rival, to be sure, of the man who began the work — asserts that the walls, although twenty-two feet thick, cannot bear the weight placed upon them, because they have not been put together with cement in the middle and have not been strengthened with brickwork.”

Trajan to Pliny: “You are the best judge of what to do at Nicaea. It will be enough for me to be informed of the plan you adopt. All Greek peoples have a passion for gymnasia, so perhaps the people of Nicaea have set about building one on a rather lavish scale, but they must be content to cut their coat according to their cloth. You again must decide what advice to give the people of Claudiopolis.”

Pliny to Trajan: “When I asked for a statement of the expenditures of the city of Byzantium — which are abnormally high — it was pointed out to me, Sire, that a delegate was sent every year with a complimentary decree to pay his respects to you, and that he received 12,000 sesterces for so doing. Remembering your instructions I ordered him to stay at home and to forward the decree by me in order to lighten the expenses. I beg you to tell whether I have done right.”

Trajan to Pliny: “You have done quite right, my dear Pliny, in canceling the expenditure of the Byzantines. . . for that delegate. They will in the future do their duty well enough, even though the decree alone is sent me through you.”

Letters Between Trajan and Pliny the Younger on Christians in Asia Minor

Pliny to Trajan: “It is my custom, Sire, to refer to you in all cases where I am in doubt, for who can better clear up difficulties and inform me? I have never been present at any legal examination of the Christians, and I do not know, therefore, what are the usual penalties passed upon them, or the limits of those penalties, or how searching an inquiry should be made. I have hesitated a great deal in considering whether any distinctions should be drawn according to the ages of the accused; whether the weak should be punished as severely as the more robust, or whether the man who has once been a Christian gained anything by recanting? Again, whether the name of being a Christian, even though otherwise innocent of crime, should be punished, or only the crimes that gather around it? [Source: Pliny the Younger (61/62-113 A.D.) and Trajan (r.98-117 A.D.): Letters, Book X. 25ff : The Correspondence of a Provincial Governor and the Emperor Trajan, c. 112 A.D. William Stearns Davis, ed., “Readings in Ancient History: Illustrative Extracts from the Sources,” 2 Vols. (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1912-13), Vol. II: Rome and the West, 196-210, 215-222, 250-251, 289-290, 295-296, 298-300]


early Christians in the Roman Empire

“In the meantime, this is the plan which I have adopted in the case of those Christians who have been brought before me. I ask them whether they are Christians, if they say "Yes," then I repeat the question the second time, and also a third — warning them of the penalties involved; and if they persist, I order them away to prison. For I do not doubt that — be their admitted crime what it may — their pertinacity and inflexible obstinacy surely ought to be punished.

“There were others who showed similar mad folly, whom I reserved to be sent to Rome, as they were Roman citizens. Later, as is commonly the case, the mere fact of my entertaining the question led to a multiplying of accusations and a variety of cases were brought before me. An anonymous pamphlet was issued, containing a number of names of alleged Christians. Those who denied that they were or had been Christians and called upon the gods with the usual formula, reciting the words after me, and those who offered incense and wine before your image — which I had ordered to be brought forward for this purpose, along with the regular statues of the gods — all such I considered acquitted — especially as they cursed the name of Christ, which it is said bona fide Christians cannot be induced to do.

“Still others there were, whose names were supplied by an informer. These first said they were Christians, then denied it, insisting they had been, "but were so no longer"; some of them having "recanted many years ago," and more than one "full twenty years back." These all worshiped your image and the god's statues and cursed the name of Christ.

“But they declared their guilt or error was simply this — on a fixed day they used to meet before dawn and recite a hymn among themselves to Christ, as though he were a god. So far from binding themselves by oath to commit any crime, they swore to keep from theft, robbery, adultery, breach of faith, and not to deny any trust money deposited with them when called upon to deliver it. This ceremony over, they used to depart and meet again to take food — but it was of no special character, and entirely harmless. They also had ceased from this practice after the edict I issued — by which, in accord with your orders, I forbade all secret societies.

“I then thought it the more needful to get at the facts behind their statements. Therefore I placed two women, called "deaconesses," under torture, but I found only a debased superstition carried to great lengths, so I postponed my examination, and immediately consulted you. This seems a matter worthy of your prompt consideration, especially as so many people are endangered. Many of all ages and both sexes are put in peril of their lives by their accusers; and the process will go on, for the contagion of this superstition has spread not merely through the free towns, but into the villages and farms. Still I think it can be halted and things set right. Beyond any doubt, the temples — which were nigh deserted — are beginning again to be thronged with worshipers; the sacred rites, which long have lapsed, are now being renewed, and the food for the sacrificial victims is again finding a sale — though up to recently it had almost no market. So one can safely infer how vast numbers could be reclaimed, if only there were a chance given for repentance.

Trajan to Pliny: “You have adopted the right course, my dear Pliny, in examining the cases of those cited before you as Christians; for no hard and fast rule can be laid down covering such a wide question. The Christians are not to be hunted out. If brought before you, and the offense is proved, they are to be punished, but with this reservation — if any one denies he is a Christian, and makes it clear he is not, by offering prayer to our gods, then he is to be pardoned on his recantation, no matter how suspicious his past. As for anonymous pamphlets, they are to be discarded absolutely, whatever crime they may charge, for they are not only a precedent of a very bad type, but they do not accord with the spirit of our age.”

Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons

Text Sources: Internet Ancient History Sourcebook: Rome sourcebooks.fordham.edu ; Internet Ancient History Sourcebook: Late Antiquity sourcebooks.fordham.edu ; “Outlines of Roman History” by William C. Morey, Ph.D., D.C.L. New York, American Book Company (1901) ; “The Private Life of the Romans” by Harold Whetstone Johnston, Revised by Mary Johnston, Scott, Foresman and Company (1903, 1932); BBC Ancient Rome bbc.co.uk/history/ ; Project Gutenberg gutenberg.org ; Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Geographic, Smithsonian magazine, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Live Science, Discover magazine, Archaeology magazine, Reuters, Associated Press, The Guardian, AFP, The New Yorker, Wikipedia, Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopedia.com and various other books, websites and publications.

Last updated October 2024


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