On This Day In Roman History. January 27
Imperator Caesar Nerva Traianus Divi Nervae filius Augustus, more commonly known as Trajan, assumes the throne after Nerva dies in his villa on January 27, 98 CE. Trajan's reign was characterized by many extensive building programs including the duly named Trajan's Forum, Trajan's Column, and Trajan's Market. Some of his first actions as Emperor included amassing a large donative to the plebians at the cost of halving the normal donatives to the army, reflecting his nature as a popular politician of the people.
Did you know?
In 107, Trajan initiated a project to decrease the purity of the silver denarius. This initial decline caused the purity of these coins to fall from 93.5 percent to 89.0 percent. The weight was thus notably much lighter, weighing in at 2.88 grams rather than 3.04 grams on average per coin. Trajan even went as far as to remove previously issued silver denari in order to melt down and re-mint them at his new devalued amount, allowing him to produce much more coinage to both civil and military spending.
Pictured: An artist's interpretation of Trajan's Bridge depicted upon a light brown surface. By Rapsak [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.
Trajan had this bridge constructed via a Greek architect by the name of Apollodorus, and its main use was to facilitate the movement of troops into Dacia during its conquest. Ut was 3,724 feet long and 49 feet wide, standing 62 feet above the Danube's surface. The Roman plaque to commemorate its completion is still intact today in modern day Kladovo, Serbia.
Opinion
Trajan was an incredible Emperor. His construction works were really only the beginning of how awesome this guy was. When you view a map that says "Roman Empire in its greatest territorial size", this is under the rule of Trajan. He was a great Emperor in an even greater time in Roman history. His devaluation of the currency, however, was one of the more silly things he did. The concept of purity relating to inflation and devaluation of currency were concepts he, nor any polotician in Rome, could yet understand at the fundamental level.
Sources
Alston, R. (2014). Aspects of Roman history, 31 BC-AD 117. London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.
O'Connor, C. (1993). Roman bridges. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Petit, P. (1976). Pax Romana. Berkeley: University of California Press.
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