Editing Trajan (section)

== Roman emperor ==
{{Nerva–Antonine dynasty|image=[[File:INC-1573-a Ауреус Траян ок. 116-117 гг. (аверс).png|150px]]|caption=Aureus of Trajan}}
On his entry to Rome, Trajan granted the [[Plebeians|plebs]] a direct gift of money. The traditional [[Donativum|donative]] to the troops, however, was reduced by half.{{sfn|Alston|2014|pp=200, 206}} There remained the issue of the strained relations between the emperor and the Senate, especially after the supposed bloodiness that had marked Domitian's reign and his dealings with the [[Curia]]. By feigning reluctance to hold power, Trajan was able to start building a consensus around him in the Senate.{{sfn|Rees|2012|p=198}} His belated ceremonial entry into Rome in 99 was notably understated, something on which Pliny the Younger elaborated.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YkgTbON-GGUC&pg=PA254|editor1=Peter V. Jones|editor2=Keith C. Sidwell|title=The World of Rome: An Introduction to Roman Culture|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|date=1997|page=254|isbn=0-521-38421-4}}</ref> By not openly supporting Domitian's preference for equestrian officers,{{sfn|Jones|2002|p=178}} Trajan appeared to conform to the idea (developed by Pliny) that an emperor derived his legitimacy from his adherence to traditional hierarchies and senatorial morals.<ref>Serghidou, Anastasia (2007). ''Fear of slaves, fear of enslavement in the ancient Mediterranean''. Presses Univ. Franche-Comté, {{ISBN|978-2-84867-169-7}}, p. 314.</ref> Therefore, he could point to the allegedly republican character of his rule.<ref>Wilkinson, Sam (2012). ''Republicanism during the Early Roman Empire''. New York: Continuum, {{ISBN|978-1-4411-2052-6}}, p. 131.</ref>

In a speech at the inauguration of his third consulship, on 1{{nbsp}}January 100, Trajan exhorted the senate to share the care-taking of the empire with him{{snds}}an event later celebrated on a coin.{{sfn|Rees|2012|p=121}}{{sfn|Veyne|2005|p=402}} In reality, Trajan did not share power in any meaningful way with the senate, something that Pliny admits candidly: "[E]verything depends on the whims of a single man who, on behalf of the common welfare, has taken upon himself all functions and all tasks".<ref>''Letters'' III, 20, 12.</ref>{{sfn|Veyne|2005|p=38, footnote}} One of the most significant trends of his reign was his encroachment on the senate's sphere of authority, such as his decision to make the senatorial provinces of [[Achaea (Roman province)|Achaea]] and [[Bithynia]] into imperial ones in order to deal with the inordinate spending on public works by local magnates<ref>Kathleen Kuiper, ed., ''Ancient Rome: From Romulus and Remus to the Visigoth Invasion''. New York: Rosen Publishing Group, 2010, {{ISBN|978-1-61530-207-9}}, p. 128.</ref> and the general mismanagement of provincial affairs by various [[proconsul]]s appointed by the Senate.<ref>M.S. Gsell, "Étude sur le rôle politique du Sénat Romain à l'époque de Trajan", ''Mélanges d'archéologie et d'histoire'', 1887, V.7.7, available at [http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/mefr_0223-4874_1887_num_7_1_6514]. Accessed 20 January 2015.</ref>

=== ''Optimus princeps'' ===

[[File:CVT APX Amphitheater Traiansstatue.jpg|thumb|Statue of Trajan, posing in military garb, in front of the Amphitheatre of Colonia Ulpia Traiana in the [[Xanten]] Archaeological Park in modern-day Germany]]

In the formula developed by Pliny, however, Trajan was a "good" emperor in that, by himself, he approved or blamed the same things that the Senate would have approved or blamed.{{sfn|Veyne|2005|p=37}} If in reality Trajan was an autocrat, his deferential behavior towards his peers qualified him to be viewed as a virtuous monarch.<ref>Ryan K. Balot, ed., ''A Companion to Greek and Roman Political Thought''.John Wiley & Sons, 2012.</ref> The idea is that Trajan wielded autocratic power through ''moderatio'' instead of ''contumacia''{{snds}}moderation instead of insolence.<ref>Roger Rees, ed., ''Latin Panegyric'', Oxford University Press, 2012, {{ISBN|978-0-19-957671-5}}, p. 137.</ref> In short, according to the ethics for autocracy developed by most political writers of the Imperial Roman Age, Trajan was a good ruler in that he ruled less by fear, and more by acting as a role model, for, according to Pliny, "men learn better from examples".<ref>Carlos F. Noreña, "The Ethics of Autocracy in the Roman World". IN Ryan K. Balot, ed., ''A Companion to Greek and Roman Political Thought''. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2009, {{ISBN|978-1-4051-5143-6}}, p. 277.</ref> Eventually, Trajan's popularity among his peers was such that the Roman Senate bestowed upon him the [[honorific]] of ''optimus'', meaning "the best",<ref>Bernard W. Henderson, "Five Roman Emperors" (1927).</ref><ref>F. A. Lepper, "Trajan's Parthian War" (1948).</ref> which appears on coins from 105 on.<ref>Edward Togo Salmon,''A History of the Roman World from 30 B.C. to A.D. 138''. London: Routledge, 2004, {{ISBN|0-415-04504-5}}, p. 274.</ref> This title had mostly to do with Trajan's role as benefactor, such as in the case of his returning confiscated property.<ref>Elizabeth Forbis, ''Municipal Virtues in the Roman Empire: The Evidence of Italian Honorary Inscriptions''. Stuttgart: Teubner, 1996, {{ISBN|3-519-07628-4}}, pp. 23/24.</ref> The epithet ''optimus princeps'' had already been used for the emperors since the late republic, but Trajan was the only one officially honoured by the title.{{sfn|Hekster|Betjes|Heijnen|Iannantuono|2022}}

Pliny states that Trajan's ideal role was a conservative one, argued as well by the orations of Dio Chrysostom—in particular his four ''Orations on Kingship'', composed early during Trajan's reign. Dio, as a Greek notable and intellectual with friends in high places, and possibly an official friend to the emperor (''amicus caesaris''), saw Trajan as a defender of the ''status quo''.<ref>Christopher J. Fuhrmann, ''Policing the Roman Empire: Soldiers, Administration, and Public Order''.Oxford University Press, 2012, {{ISBN|978-0-19-973784-0}}, p. 175.</ref>{{sfn|Veyne|2005|p=241}} In his third kingship oration, Dio describes an ideal king ruling by means of "friendship"{{snds}}that is, through patronage and a network of local notables who act as mediators between the ruled and the ruler.<ref>Joshua Rice, ''Paul and Patronage: The Dynamics of Power in 1 Corinthians''. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2013, {{ISBN|978-1-62032-557-5}}, p. 84 sqq.</ref> Dio's notion of being "friend" to Trajan (or any other Roman emperor), however, was that of an ''informal'' arrangement, that involved no formal entry of such "friends" into the Roman administration.<ref>Simon Swain, ed., ''Dio Chrysostom: Politics, Letters, and Philosophy''. Oxford University Press, 2002, {{ISBN|0-19-925521-0}}, p. 90.</ref> Trajan ingratiated himself with the Greek intellectual elite by recalling to Rome many (including Dio) who had been exiled by Domitian,<ref>Yun Lee Too, Niall Livingstone, eds. ''Pedagogy and Power: Rhetorics of Classical Learning''.Cambridge University Press, 2007, {{ISBN|978-0-521-59435-6}}, p.{{nbsp}}202; Leonard L. Thompson, ''The Book of Revelation'', Oxford University Press, 1997, {{ISBN|0-19-511580-5}}, p.{{nbsp}}112.</ref> and by returning (in a process begun by Nerva) a great deal of private property that Domitian had confiscated. He also had good dealings with [[Plutarch]], who, as a notable of [[Delphi]], seems to have been favoured by the decisions taken on behalf of his home-place by one of Trajan's legates, who had arbitrated a boundary dispute between Delphi and its neighbouring cities.<ref>Lukas De Blois, ed., ''The Statesman in Plutarch's Works: Proceedings of the Sixth International Congerence of the International Plutarch Society Nijmegen/Castle Hernen, 1–5 May 2002''. Leiden: Brill, 2004, {{ISBN|90-04-13795-5}}, p. 28.</ref>

However, it was clear to Trajan that Greek intellectuals and notables were to be regarded as tools for local administration, and not be allowed to fancy themselves in a privileged position.<ref>Giuseppe Zecchini, "Plutarch as Political Theorist and Trajan" ''in'' Philip A. Stadter, L.{{nbsp}}Van der Stockt, eds.,''Sage and Emperor: Plutarch, Greek Intellectuals, and Roman Power in the Time of Trajan (98–117 A.D.)''. [[Leuven University Press]], 2002, {{ISBN|90-5867-239-5}}, p. 196.</ref> As Pliny said in one of his letters at the time, it was official policy that Greek civic elites be treated according to their status as notionally free but not put on an equal footing with their Roman rulers.<ref>Benjamin Isaac, ''The Invention of Racism in Classical Antiquity''. [[Princeton University Press]], 2013, {{ISBN|0-691-11691-1}}, p. 399.</ref> When the city of [[Apamea Myrlea|Apamea]] complained of an audit of its accounts by Pliny, alleging its "free" status as a Roman colony, Trajan replied by writing that it was by his own wish that such inspections had been ordered. Concern about independent local political activity is seen in Trajan's decision to forbid [[Nicomedia]] from having a corps of firemen ("If people assemble for a common purpose{{nbsp}}... they soon turn it into a political society", Trajan wrote to Pliny) as well as in his and Pliny's fears about excessive civic generosities by local notables such as distribution of money or gifts.<ref>Benjamin Isaac, 487; Albino Garzetti, ''From Tiberius to the Antonines'', 348.</ref>

Pliny's letters suggest that Trajan and his aides were as much bored as they were alarmed by the claims of Dio and other Greek notables to political influence based on what they saw as their "special connection" to their Roman overlords.{{sfn|Veyne|2005|p=240}} Pliny tells of Dio of Prusa placing a statue of Trajan in a building complex where Dio's wife and son were buried – therefore incurring a charge of treason for placing the emperor's statue near a grave. Trajan, however, dropped the charge.<ref>Simon Swain, ''Hellenism and Empire: Language, Classicism, and Power in the Greek World, AD 50–250''. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996, {{ISBN|0-19-814772-4}}, p. 237.</ref> Nevertheless, while the office of ''corrector'' was intended as a tool to curb any hint of independent political activity among local notables in the Greek cities,<ref>Thérèse Renoirte (Sœur), ''Les "Conseils politiques" de Plutarque. Une lettre ouverte aux Grecs à l'époque de Trajan''. Review by Robert Flacelière, ''  L'antiquité classique'', 1952, available at [http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/antiq_0770-2817_1952_num_21_1_3210_T1_0162_0000_2] . Retrieved 12 December 2014.</ref> the ''correctores'' themselves were all men of the highest social standing entrusted with an exceptional commission. The post seems to have been conceived partly as a reward for senators who had chosen to make a career solely on the emperor's behalf. Therefore, in reality the post was conceived as a means for "taming" both Greek notables and Roman senators.<ref>E. Guerber, "Les correctores dans la partie hellénophone de l'empire Romain du règne de Trajan à l'avènement de Dioclétien : étude prosopographique"  ''Anatolia Antiqua'', V.5, no. 5, 1997; available at [http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/anata_1018-1946_1997_num_5_1_876]. Retrieved 12 December 2014.</ref> It must be added that, although Trajan was wary of the civic oligarchies in the Greek cities, he also admitted into the senate a number of prominent Eastern notables already slated for promotion during Domitian's reign by reserving for them one of the twenty posts open each year for minor magistrates (the ''[[Vigintisexviri|vigintiviri]]'').<ref>Brian Jones, ''The Emperor Domitian'', Routledge, 2002, {{ISBN|0-203-03625-5}}, p.{{nbsp}}171.</ref> Such must be the case of the Galatian notable and "leading member of the Greek community" (according to one inscription) Gaius Julius Severus, who was a descendant of several [[Hellenistic]] dynasts and client kings.<ref>Brian Jones, ''The Emperor Domitian'', 172; Petit, ''Pax Romana'', 52; Martin Goodman, ''The Roman World 44 BC–AD 180''. Abingdon: Routledge, 2013, {{ISBN|978-0-415-55978-2}}, p. 120.</ref>

Severus was the grandfather of the prominent general [[Gaius Julius Quadratus Bassus]], consul in 105.<ref>Pergamum inscription (Smallwood NH 214), reproduced in Brian Campbell, ''The Roman Army, 31 BC – AD 337: A Sourcebook''. London: Routledge, 2006, {{ISBN|0-415-07172-0}}, p. 63.</ref> Other prominent Eastern senators included [[Gaius Julius Alexander Berenicianus]], a descendant of [[Herod the Great]], suffect consul in 116.<ref>Junghwa Choi, ''Jewish Leadership in Roman Palestine from 70 C.E. to 135 C.E.'' . Leiden: Brill, 2013, {{ISBN|978-90-04-24516-7}}, p. 162.</ref> Trajan created at least fourteen new senators from the Greek-speaking half of the empire, an unprecedented recruitment number that opens to question the issue of the "traditionally Roman" character of his reign, as well as the "Hellenism" of his successor Hadrian.<ref>Pierre Lambrechts, "Trajan et le récrutement du Sénat", ''L'antiquité classique'', 1936, 5–1, pp. 105–114. Available at [http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/antiq_0770-2817_1936_num_5_1_3014]. Retrieved 4 January 2015.</ref> But then Trajan's new Eastern senators were mostly very powerful and very wealthy men with more than local influence<ref>Stanley E. Hoffer, ''The Anxieties of Pliny, the Younger''. Oxford University Press, 1999, {{ISBN|0-7885-0565-3}}, p. 121.</ref> and much interconnected by marriage, so that many of them were not altogether "new" to the Senate.{{sfn|de Ste. Croix|1989|p=119}} On the local level, among the lower section of the Eastern propertied,{{sfn|de Ste. Croix|1989|p=466}} the alienation of most Greek notables and intellectuals towards Roman rule, and the fact that the Romans were seen by most such Greek notables as aliens, persisted well after Trajan's reign.<ref>Hildegard Temporini, ed., ''Aufstieg und Niedergang der Römischen Welt: Geschichte und Kultur Roms im Spiegel der Neueren Forschung. Principat, Part 2, Volume 2'' .Leiden: De Gruyter, 1975, {{ISBN|3-11-004971-6}}, pp. 367/368.</ref> One of Trajan's senatorial creations from the East, the [[Athenian]] [[Philopappos|Gaius Julius Antiochus Epiphanes Philopappos]], a member of the Royal House of [[Commagene]], left behind him a [[Philopappos Monument|funeral monument]] on the [[Mouseion Hill]] that was later disparagingly described by [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] as "a monument built to a [[Syrian]] man".<ref>K. W. Arafat, ''Pausanias' Greece: Ancient Artists and Roman Rulers''. Cambridge University Press, 2004, {{ISBN|0-521-55340-7}}, p. 192.</ref>

=== Greek-Roman relations ===
[[File:Traianus Glyptothek Munich 72.jpg|thumb|left|Bust of Trajan wearing the [[Civic Crown]], [[Glyptothek]], Munich]]
As a senatorial Emperor, Trajan was inclined to choose his local base of political support from among the members of the ruling urban oligarchies. In the West, that meant local senatorial families like his own. In the East, that meant the families of Greek notables. The Greeks, though, had their own memories of independence{{snds}}and a commonly acknowledged sense of cultural superiority{{snds}}and, instead of seeing themselves as Roman, disdained Roman rule.{{sfn|Veyne|2005|pp=195–196}} What the Greek oligarchies wanted from Rome was, above all, to be left in peace, to be allowed to exert their right to self-government (i.e., to be excluded from the provincial government, as was Italy) and to concentrate on their local interests.{{sfn|Veyne|2005|p=229}} This was something the Romans were not disposed to do as from their perspective the Greek notables were shunning their responsibilities in regard to the management of Imperial affairs{{snds}}primarily in failing to keep the common people under control, thus creating the need for the Roman governor to intervene.{{sfn|Veyne|2005|pp=229–230}} An excellent example of this Greek alienation was the personal role played by Dio of Prusa in his relationship with Trajan. Dio is described by [[Philostratus]] as Trajan's close friend, and Trajan as supposedly engaging publicly in conversations with Dio.<ref>Giovanni Salmeri, "Dio, Rome, and the Civic Life of Asia Minor" IN Simon Swain, ed., ''Dio Chrysostom: Politics, Letters, and Philosophy''. Oxford U. Press, 2002, {{ISBN|0-19-925521-0}}, p. 91.</ref>

Nevertheless, as a Greek local magnate with a taste for costly building projects and pretensions of being an important political agent for Rome,<ref>Simon Goldhill, ''Being Greek Under Rome: Cultural Identity, the Second Sophistic and the Development of Empire''. Cambridge University Press, 2007, {{ISBN|0-521-66317-2}}, p. 293.</ref> Dio of Prusa was actually a target for one of Trajan's authoritarian innovations: the appointing of imperial [[corrector|''correctores'']] to audit the civic finances<ref>Bradley Hudson McLean, ''An Introduction to Greek Epigraphy of the Hellenistic and Roman Periods from Alexander the Great Down to the Reign of Constantine (323 B.C.{{nsndns}}A.D. 337)''. University of Michigan Press, 2002, p.{{nbsp}}334.</ref> of the [[Free city (antiquity)|technically free Greek cities]].<ref>A. G. Leventis, ''Hellenistic and Roman Sparta''. London: Routledge, 2004, {{ISBN|0-203-48218-2}}, p.{{nbsp}}138.</ref> The main goal was to curb the overenthusiastic spending on public works that served to channel ancient rivalries between neighbouring cities. As Pliny wrote to Trajan, this had as its most visible consequence a trail of unfinished or ill-kept public utilities.<ref>Pliny, ''Letters'', 10.70.2.</ref> Competition among Greek cities and their ruling oligarchies was mainly for marks of pre-eminence, especially for titles bestowed by the Roman emperor. Such titles were ordered in a ranking system that determined how the cities were to be outwardly treated by Rome.<ref>David S. Potter, ed. ''A Companion to the Roman Empire''. Malden, MA: Wiley, 2010, {{ISBN|978-0-631-22644-4}}, p.{{nbsp}}246.</ref> The usual form that such rivalries took was that of grandiose building plans, giving the cities the opportunity to vie with each other over "extravagant, needless{{nbsp}}... structures that would make a show".<ref>Ramsey Macmullen, ''Enemies of the Roman Order''. London, Routledge, 1992, {{ISBN|0-415-08621-3}}, p. 185.</ref> A side effect of such extravagant spending was that junior and thus less wealthy members of the local oligarchies felt disinclined to present themselves to fill posts as local magistrates, positions that involved ever-increasing personal expense.<ref>Graham Anderson, ''Second Sophistic: A Cultural Phenomenon in the Roman Empire''. London, Routledge, 2005, Google e-book, available at [https://books.google.com/books?id=V4qJAgAAQBAJ]. Retrieved 15 December 2014.</ref> Roman authorities liked to play the Greek cities against one another<ref>Potter, 246.</ref>{{snds}}something of which Dio of Prusa was fully aware:
{{blockquote|[B]y their public acts [the Roman governors] have branded you as a pack of fools, yes, they treat you just like children, for we often offer children the most trivial things in place of things of greatest worth [...] In place of justice, in place of the freedom of the cities from spoliation or from the seizure of the private possessions of their inhabitants, in place of their refraining from insulting you [...] your governors hand you titles, and call you 'first' either by word of mouth or in writing; that done, they may thenceforth with impunity treat you as being the very last!"<ref>Dio, Discourse 38,''To the Nicomedians on Concord with the Nicaeans'', 37. Available at [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Dio_Chrysostom/Discourses/38*.html]. Retrieved February 20, 2016.</ref>{{sfn|Veyne|2005|pp=232–233}}}}These same Roman authorities had also an interest in assuring the cities' solvency and therefore ready collection of Imperial taxes.<ref>Hildegard Temporini, Wolfgang Haase, eds., ''Politische Geschichte: Provinzen und Randvoelker – Griescher Balkanraum: Kleinasien''. Berlin; de Gruyter, 1980, {{ISBN|3-11-008015-X}}, pp.{{nbsp}}668{{nsndns}}669.</ref> Last but not least, inordinate spending on civic buildings was not only a means to achieve local superiority, but also a means for the local Greek elites to maintain a separate cultural identity{{snds}}something expressed in the contemporary rise of the [[Second Sophistic]]; this "cultural patriotism" acted as a kind of substitute for the loss of political independence,<ref>Paul Veyne, "L'identité grecque devant Rome et l'empereur", ''Revue des Études Grecques'', 1999, V.122-2, p. 515. Available at [http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/reg_0035-2039_1999_num_112_2_4382]. Retrieved 20 December 2014.</ref> and as such was shunned by Roman authorities.<ref>Jesper Majbom Madsen, Roger David Rees, eds. ''Roman rule in Greek and Latin Writing: Double Vision''. Leiden: Brill, 2014, {{ISBN|978-90-04-27738-0}}, p.{{nbsp}}36.</ref> As Trajan himself wrote to Pliny: "These poor Greeks all love a [[Gymnasium (Ancient Greece)|gymnasium]]{{nbsp}}... they will have to content with one that suits their real needs".<ref>Quoted by Hooper, ''Roman Realities'', 429.</ref> The first known ''corrector'' was charged with a commission "to deal with the situation of the free cities", as it was felt that the old method of ''ad hoc'' intervention by the Emperor and/or the proconsuls had not been enough to curb the pretensions of the Greek notables.<ref>JC Carrière, "À propos de ''la Politique'' de Plutarque "{{snds}}''Dialogues d'histoire ancienne'', V.3, no.3, 1977. Available at [http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/dha_0755-7256_1977_num_3_1_2693] Retrieved 13 December 2014.</ref> It is noteworthy that an embassy from Dio's city of Prusa was not favourably received by Trajan,<ref>Fergus Millar, ''Rome, the Greek World, and the East: Government, society, and culture in the Roman Empire''. University of North Carolina Press, 2004, {{ISBN|0-8078-2852-1}}, p. 31.</ref> and that this had to do with Dio's chief objective, which was to elevate Prusa to the status of a free city, an "independent" city-state exempt from paying taxes to Rome.<ref>Jesper Majbom Madsen, ''Eager to be Roman: Greek Response to Roman Rule in Pontus and Bithynia''. London: [[Bloomsbury Publishing]], 2009, {{ISBN|978-0-7156-3753-1}}, p. 116.</ref> Eventually, Dio gained for Prusa the right to become the head of the assize-district, [[conventus iuridicus|conventus]] (meaning that Prusans did not have to travel to be judged by the Roman governor), but ''eleutheria'' (freedom, in the sense of full political autonomy) was denied.<ref>Simon Swain, ed., ''Dio Chrysostom: Politics, Letters, and Philosophy''. Oxford University Press, 2002, {{ISBN|0-19-925521-0}}, p.{{nbsp}}68.</ref>

Eventually, it fell to Pliny, as imperial governor of Bithynia in AD{{nbsp}}110, to deal with the consequences of the financial mess wrought by Dio and his fellow civic officials.<ref>Paraskevi Martzavou, Nikolaos Papazarkadas, eds., ''Epigraphical Approaches to the Post-Classical Polis: Fourth Century BC to Second Century AD'' . Oxford University Press, 2013, {{ISBN|978-0-19-965214-3}}, p.{{nbsp}}115.</ref> "It's well established that [the cities' finances] are in a state of disorder", Pliny once wrote to Trajan, plans for unnecessary works made in collusion with local contractors being identified as one of the main problems.<ref>Temporini & Haase, ''Politische Geschichte'', 669.</ref> One of the compensatory measures proposed by Pliny expressed a thoroughly Roman conservative position: as the cities' financial solvency depended on the councilmen's purses, it was necessary to have more councilmen on the local city councils. According to Pliny, the best way to achieve this was to lower the minimum age for holding a seat on the council, making it possible for more sons of the established oligarchical families to join and thus contribute to civic spending; this was seen as preferable to enrolling non-noble wealthy upstarts.{{sfn|de Ste. Croix|1989|p=530}} Such an increase in the number of council members was granted to Dio's city of Prusa, to the dismay of existing councilmen who felt their status lowered.<ref>Jesper Majbom Madsen, ''Eager to be Roman'', 117.</ref> A similar situation existed in [[Claudiopolis (Bithynia)|Claudiopolis]], where a public bath was built with the proceeds from the entrance fees paid by "supernumerary" members of the council, enrolled with Trajan's permission.<ref>Sviatoslav Dmitriev, ''City Government in Hellenistic and Roman Asia Minor''. Oxford University Press, 2005, {{ISBN|978-0-19-517042-9}}, p. 155.</ref> According to the [[Digest (Roman law)|Digest]], Trajan decreed that when a city magistrate promised to achieve a particular public building, his heirs inherited responsibility for its completion.<ref>Fergus Millar, '' Rome, the Greek World, and the East: Government, society, and culture in the Roman Empire''. [[University of North Carolina Press]], 2004, {{ISBN|0-8078-5520-0}}, pp. 37/38.</ref>

=== Building projects ===
[[File:Remains of the Trajan's Bridge on the right bank of Danube, Serbia (27251575447).jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|left|Supporting piers of [[Trajan's Bridge]] on the right bank of the [[Danube]], in modern Serbia. Its wooden superstructure was dismantled by [[Hadrian]], presumably to reduce the threat of invasion from the north.<ref>{{citation|last=Opper|first=Thorsten|title=Hadrian: Empire and Conflict|publisher=[[Harvard University Press]]|year=2008|isbn=9780674030954|page=[https://archive.org/details/hadrianempirecon0000oppe/page/67 67]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/hadrianempirecon0000oppe/page/67}}</ref>]]
Trajan was a prolific builder. Many of his buildings were designed and erected by the gifted architect [[Apollodorus of Damascus]], including a [[Trajan's Bridge|massive bridge over the Danube]], which the Roman army and its reinforcements could use regardless of weather; the Danube sometimes froze over in winter, but seldom enough to bear the passage of a party of soldiers.<ref>N. J. E. Austin & N. B. Rankov, ''Exploratio: Military & Political Intelligence in the Roman World from the Second Punic War to the Battle of Adrianople''. London: Routledge,  2002, p. 177.</ref> Trajan's works at the [[Iron Gates]] region of the [[Danube]] created or enlarged the [[boardwalk]] road cut into the cliff-face along the Iron Gate's gorge.<ref>Wiseman, James, 1997, "Beyond the Danube's Iron Gates". ''Archaeology'' 50(2): 24–29.</ref> A canal was built between the Danube's Kasajna tributary and Ducis Pratum, circumventing rapids and cataracts.<ref>Šašel, Jaroslav. 1973  "Trajan's Canal at the Iron Gate". ''The Journal of Roman Studies''. 63:80–85.</ref>

Trajan's [[Forum Traiani]] was Rome's largest forum. It was built to commemorate his victories in [[Dacia]], and was largely financed from that campaign's loot.<ref name="Trajan: Rome's Last Conqueror">{{cite book |last=Jackson |first=Nicholas |chapter=Biding Time between Wars |title=Trajan: Rome's Last Conqueror |publisher=GreenHill Books |location=UK |edition=1st |date=2022 |isbn=978-1784387075}}</ref> To accommodate it, parts of the [[Capitoline Hill|Capitoline]] and [[Quirinal Hill]]s had to be removed, the latter enlarging a clear area first established by Domitian. [[Apollodorus of Damascus]]' "magnificent" design incorporated a [[Triumphal arch]] entrance, a forum space approximately 120 m long and 90m wide, surrounded by peristyles: a monumentally sized [[basilica]]: and later, [[Trajan's Column]] and libraries. It was started in AD 107, dedicated on 1 January 112, and remained in use for at least 500 years. It still drew admiration when Emperor [[Constantius II]] visited Rome in the fourth century.<ref name="Trajan: Rome's Last Conqueror"/> It accommodated Trajan's Market, and an adjacent brick market.<ref>Fritz Heichelheim, Cedric Veo, Allen Ward,(1984) History of the Roman People, p. 382, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Packer |first=James |title=Trajan's GLORIOUS FORUM |journal=Archaeology |date=January–February 1998 |volume=51 |issue=1 |page=32}}</ref>

Trajan was also a prolific builder of triumphal arches, many of which survive. He built roads, such as the [[Via Traiana]], an extension of the [[Via Appia]] from [[Benevento|Beneventum]] to [[Brundisium]]<ref>Martin Klonnek, ''Chronologie des Römischen Reiches 2: 2. Jh. – Jahr 100 bis 199''. Berlin: epubli, 2014, {{ISBN|978-3-7375-0702-8}}, p. 109.</ref> and the [[Via Traiana Nova]], a mostly military road between [[Damascus]] and [[Aqaba|Aila]], which Rome employed in its [[#Annexation of Nabataea|annexation of Nabataea]] and founding of [[Arabia Petraea|Arabia Province]].<ref>Dikla Rivlin Katz, Noah Hacham, Geoffrey Herman, Lilach Sagiv, ''A Question of Identity: Social, Political, and Historical Aspects of Identity Dynamics in Jewish and Other Contexts''. Berlin: Walter de Griyter, 2019 {{ISBN|978-3-11-061248-6}}, p. 304.</ref>

[[File:Trajan on the Roman Mammisi at Dendera, Egypt.jpg|thumb |upright 0.75 |Emperor Trajan in [[Pharaoh|Pharonic aspect]] with [[Egyptian hieroglyphs|hieroglyph]] name ([[File:Trajan in Hieroglyphs.jpg|20px]]), making offerings to Egyptian Gods, on the Roman [[Mammisi]] at the [[Dendera Temple complex]], Egypt.<ref name="PAS"/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Beard |first1=Mary |title=SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome |date=2015 |publisher=Profile |isbn=978-1-84765-441-0 |page=424 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x795CgAAQBAJ&pg=PT424 |language=en}}</ref>]]

Some historians attribute the construction or reconstruction of [[Old Cairo]]'s Roman fortress (also known as "Babylon Fort") to Trajan, and the building of a canal between the [[River Nile]] and the [[Red Sea]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Butler|first=A. J.|title=Babylon of Egypt: A study in the history of Old Cairo|url=https://archive.org/details/babylonofegyptst00butluoft|year=1914|publisher=Clarendon Press|location=Oxford|page=[https://archive.org/details/babylonofegyptst00butluoft/page/5 5]}}</ref> In Egypt, Trajan was "quite active" in constructing and embellishing buildings. He is portrayed, together with [[Domitian]], on the [[propylon]] of the [[Dendera Temple complex|Temple of Hathor]] at [[Dendera]]. His [[cartouche]] also appears in the column shafts of the Temple of [[Khnum]] at [[Esna]].<ref name="PAS">"Trajan was, in fact, quite active in Egypt. Separate scenes of Domitian and Trajan making offerings to the gods appear on reliefs on the propylon of the Temple of Hathor at Dendera. There are cartouches of Domitian and Trajan on the column shafts of the Temple of Knum at Esna, and on the exterior a frieze text mentions Domitian, Trajan, and Hadrian"  {{cite book |last1=Stadter |first1=Philip A. |last2=Stockt |first2=L. Van der |title=Sage and Emperor: Plutarch, Greek Intellectuals, and Roman Power in the Time of Trajan (98–117 A.D.) |date=2002 |publisher=Leuven University Press |isbn=978-90-5867-239-1 |page=75 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jJjiYdxHmPMC&pg=PA75 |language=en}}</ref>

He built palatial villas outside Rome at [[Villa of Trajan|Arcinazzo]], at [[Centumcellae]] and at [[Talamone]].

He also built a [[Baths of Trajan|bath complex]] as well as the [[Aqua Traiana]].

=== Games ===
Trajan invested heavily in the provision of popular amusements. He carried out a "massive reconstruction" of the [[Circus Maximus]], which was already the empire's biggest and best appointed circuit for the immensely popular sport of [[chariot racing]]. The Circus also hosted [[Ludi|religious theatrical spectacles and games]], and public processions on a grand scale. Trajan's reconstruction, completed by 103, was modestly described by Trajan himself as "adequate" for the Roman people. It replaced flammable wooden seating tiers with stone, and increased the Circus' already vast capacity by about 5,000 seats. Its lofty, elevated Imperial viewing box was rebuilt among the seating tiers, so that spectators could see their emperor sharing their enjoyment of the races, alongside his family and images of the gods,<ref>{{cite book|last=Humphrey|first=John H.|title=Roman Circuses: Arenas for Chariot Racing|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=couetXBQO9AC|year=1986|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-04921-5}} pp. 80, 102-103, 126-129. The images of the gods were brought from their temples to be laid on dining couches with great ceremony, so that they too could watch the spectacle.</ref>

At some time during 108 or 109, Trajan held 123 days of games to celebrate his Dacian victory. They involved "fully 10,000" [[gladiator]]s and the slaughter of thousands, "possibly tens of thousands," of animals, both wild and domestic.<ref>Epitome of Cassius Dio, ''Roman History'', 68.15.1.</ref> Trajan's careful management of public spectacles led the orator Fronto to congratulate him for paying equal attention to public entertainments and more serious issues, acknowledging that "neglect of serious matters can cause greater damage, but neglect of amusements greater discontent".<ref>Quoted by Andrea Giardina, ed. ''The Romans''. University of Chicago Press, 1993, {{ISBN|0-226-29049-2}}, p. 272.</ref> State-funded public entertainments helped to maintain contentment among the populace; the more "serious matter" of the [[Cura annonae|corn dole]] aimed to satisfy individuals.<ref>Z. Yavetz, "The Urban Plebs in the Days of the Flavians, Nerva and Trajan". IN ''Opposition et Resistances a L'empire D'auguste a Trajan''. Geneva: Droz, 1987, {{ISBN|978-2-600-04425-7}}, p. 181.</ref>

===Christians===
[[File:Church and Empire in the East under Trajan (Smith, 1915).jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|In red, Christian communities in the Roman Empire under Emperor Trajan.]]
During the period of peace that followed the Dacian war, Trajan exchanged letters with Pliny the Younger on how best to deal with the Christians of [[Pontus (region)|Pontus]]. Trajan told [[Pliny the Younger on Christians|Pliny to continue]] prosecutions of Christians if they merited that, but not to accept anonymous or malicious denunciations. He considered this to be in the interests of justice, and to reflect "the spirit of the age". Non-citizens who admitted to being Christians and refused to recant were to be executed "for obstinacy". Citizens were sent to Rome for trial.<ref>Stephen Benko, ''Pagan Rome and the Early Christians''. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1986, {{ISBN|0-253-20385-6}}, pp. 6/7.</ref>

Further tests faced by Christians in Pontus are alluded to in correspondence between Pliny the Younger, governor of the Roman province of Bithynia and Pontus, and Emperor Trajan. Writing from Pontus in about AD 112, Pliny reported that the "contagion" of Christianity threatened everyone, regardless of gender, age, or rank. Pliny gave those accused of being Christians opportunity to deny it, and those who would not, he executed. Any who cursed Christ or recited a prayer to the gods or to Trajan’s statue were released. Pliny acknowledged that these were things that "those who are really Christians cannot be made to do."

=== Currency and welfare ===
{{see also|Alimenta}}
In 107, Trajan devalued the [[Roman currency]], decreasing the silver content of the [[denarius]] from 93.5% to 89.0%{{snds}}the actual silver weight dropping from 3.04{{nbsp}}grams to 2.88{{nbsp}}grams.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tulane.edu/~august/handouts/601cprin.htm |title=Tulane University "Roman Currency of the Principate" |publisher=Tulane.edu |access-date=5 December 2011 |archive-date=1 November 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081101003844/http://www.tulane.edu/~august/handouts/601cprin.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> This devaluation, along with the massive amounts of gold and silver acquired through his [[Trajan's Dacian Wars|Dacian wars]], allowed Trajan to mint many more denarii than his predecessors. He also withdrew from circulation silver denarii minted before Nero's devaluation. Trajan's devaluation may have had a political intent, enabling planned increases in civil and military spending.{{sfn|Petit|1976|p=188}} Trajan formalised the alimenta, a welfare program that helped orphans and poor children throughout Italy by providing cash, food and subsidized education. The program was supported out of Dacian War booty, estate taxes and philanthropy.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://tjbuggey.ancients.info/Alimenta.html |title=Alimenta |publisher=Tjbuggey.ancients.info |access-date=25 April 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140210160453/http://tjbuggey.ancients.info/Alimenta.html |archive-date=10 February 2014 }}</ref> The alimenta also relied indirectly on mortgages secured against Italian farms (''fundi''). Registered landowners received a lump sum from the imperial treasury, and in return were expected to repay an annual sum to support the alimentary fund.<ref>John Rich, Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, eds., ''City and Country in the Ancient World''. London: Routledge, 2003, {{ISBN|0-203-41870-0}}, p. 158.</ref>