Mafraq ( Arabic : المفرق Al-Mafraq , local dialects: Mafrag or Mafra ; lit. ' crossroads ' ) is the capital city of Mafraq Governorate in Jordan , located 80 km to the north of the national capital, Amman . It is located at a crossroads, with a road north going to Syria and another road to the east going to Iraq . It had 56,340 inhabitants in 2004.
146-635: Mafraq was first settled in the 4th century BC. It is located about 17 km west of the historic Nabataean and Byzantine town of Umm el-Jimal , which was built in the 1st century. The city was first named "Fudain", which comes from the word for fortress in Arabic . In Ottoman times, there was a pilgrims' inn or khan there, known as Khan or Qal'at el-Mafraq, which was part of the Syrian Hajj route , used annually by Muslims on their way to Medina and Mecca . The city gained more significance after
292-613: A legatus legionis in Hispania Tarraconensis , he supported the emperor against a revolt on the Rhine led by Antonius Saturninus . He then served as governor of Germania and Pannonia . In September 96, Domitian was succeeded by the elderly and childless Nerva , who proved to be unpopular with the army. After a revolt by members of the Praetorian Guard , Nerva decided to adopt as his heir and successor
438-546: A Traia . Their son, Trajan's namesake father Marcus Ulpius Traianus , was born at Italica during the reign of Tiberius and became a prominent senator and general, commanding the Legio X Fretensis under Vespasian in the First Jewish-Roman War . Trajan's mother was Marcia , a Roman noblewoman of the gens Marcia and a sister-in-law of the second Flavian Emperor Titus . Little is known of her. Her father
584-452: A client kingdom in the first war (101–102), followed by a second war that ended in actual incorporation into the Empire of the trans-Danube border group of Dacia. According to the provisions of Decebalus's earlier treaty with Rome, made in the time of Domitian, Decebalus was acknowledged as rex amicus , that is, client king; in exchange for accepting client status, he received from Rome both
730-444: A Dacian nobleman called Bikilis was captured. Decebalus’ treasures had been buried under a temporarily diverted river and the captive workers executed to retain the secret. Staggering amounts of gold and silver were found and packed off to fill Rome's coffers. Trajan built a new city, Colonia Ulpia Traiana Augusta Dacica Sarmizegetusa , on another site (north of the hill citadel holding the previous Dacian capital), although bearing
876-504: A Nabataean perspective, Dhushara was probably associated with the heavens. However, one theory which connects Dushara with the forest gives a different idea of the god. The eagle was one of the symbols of Dushara. It was widely used in Hegra as a source of protection for the tombs against thievery. Nabataean inscriptions from Hegra suggest that Dushara was linked either with the sun, or with Mercury , with which Ruda , another Arabian god,
1022-552: A banquet. The details of Trajan's early military career are obscure, save for the fact that in 89, as legate of Legio VII Gemina in Hispania Tarraconensis , he supported Domitian against an attempted coup by Lucius Antonius Saturninus , the governor of Germania Superior . Trajan probably remained in the region after the revolt was quashed, to engage with the Chatti who had sided with Saturninus, before returning
1168-643: A basis for further expansion within Eastern Europe, as the Romans believed the region to be much more geographically "flattened", and thus easier to traverse, than it actually was; they also underestimated the distance from those vaguely defined borders to the ocean. Defence of the province was entrusted to a single legion, the XIII Gemina , stationed at Apulum , which functioned as an advance guard that could, in case of need, strike either west or east at
1314-586: A bright red produced from madder . Blue textiles were also found. When it comes to the types of clothing and what can be surmised from these finds are that Nabatean men wore a tunic and a mantle both made of wool.The tunic in a Roman style (sleeveless) and with the mantle cut in a Greek style. This, as stated before, reflects a popular style rather than an ethnic style exclusive to the Nabateans. Nabataean women wore long tunics along with scarves and mantles. These scarves were loosely woven and sported fringes at
1460-465: A change of mores that began with the Severan dynasty , Trajan's putative lovers included the future emperor, Hadrian, pages of the imperial household, the actor Pylades, a dancer called Apolaustus, Lucius Licinius Sura, and Trajan's predecessor Nerva. Cassius Dio also relates that Trajan made an ally out of Abgar VII on account of the latter's beautiful son, Arbandes, who would then dance for Trajan at
1606-506: 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
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#17327825228241752-404: A coin. 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". 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
1898-624: A generous stipend and a steady supply of technical experts. The treaty seems to have allowed Roman troops the right of passage through the Dacian kingdom in order to attack the Marcomanni , Quadi and Sarmatians . However, senatorial opinion never forgave Domitian for paying what was seen as tribute to a barbarian king. Unlike the Germanic tribes, the Dacian kingdom was an organized state capable of developing alliances of its own, thus making it
2044-512: 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
2190-661: A large cavalry force, and occupying Dium . After this defeat, the Nabataean forces regrouped near Canatha in Syria, but were attacked and routed. Cleopatra's general, Athenion , sent Canathans to the aid of the Nabataeans, and this force crushed Herod's army, which then fled to Ormiza. One year later, Herod's army overran Nabataea. After an earthquake in Judaea, the Nabateans rebelled and invaded Judea, but Herod at once crossed
2336-714: A lengthy tour of inspection on the Rhine and Danube frontiers, may suggest that he was unsure of his position, both in Rome and with the armies at the front. Alternatively, Trajan's keen military mind understood the importance of strengthening the empire's frontiers. His vision for future conquests required the diligent improvement of surveillance networks, defences and transport along the Danube . Prior to his frontier tours, Trajan ordered his Prefect Aelianus to attend him in Germany, where he
2482-412: A lump sum from the imperial treasury, and in return were expected to repay an annual sum to support the alimentary fund. The earliest of Trajan's conquests were Rome's two wars against Dacia , an area that had troubled Roman politics for over a decade in regard to the unstable peace negotiated by Domitian 's ministers with the powerful Dacian king Decebalus . Dacia would be reduced by Trajan's Rome to
2628-491: A network of local notables who act as mediators between the ruled and the ruler. 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. Trajan ingratiated himself with the Greek intellectual elite by recalling to Rome many (including Dio) who had been exiled by Domitian, and by returning (in
2774-555: A noblewoman from the Roman settlement at Nîmes ; the marriage ultimately remained childless. The historian Cassius Dio later noted that Trajan was a lover of young men , in contrast to the usual bisexual activity that was common among upper-class Roman men of the period. The emperor Julian also made a sardonic reference to his predecessor's sexual preference, stating that Zeus himself would have had to be on guard had his Ganymede come within Trajan's vicinity. This distaste reflected
2920-506: 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
3066-613: A plan that failed. Decebalus also took prisoner Trajan's legate Longinus, who eventually poisoned himself while in custody. Finally, in 105, Decebalus undertook an invasion of Roman-occupied territory north of the Danube. Prior to the campaign, Trajan had raised two entirely new legions: II Traiana – which, however, may have been posted in the East, at the Syrian port of Laodicea – and XXX Ulpia Victrix , which
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#17327825228243212-438: A political intent, enabling planned increases in civil and military spending. 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. The alimenta also relied indirectly on mortgages secured against Italian farms ( fundi ). Registered landowners received
3358-499: A privileged position. 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. When the city of 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
3504-585: A probable candidate. However, John F. Healey states that: "The Nabataean origin of the Arabic script is now almost universally accepted". In surviving Nabataean documents, Aramaic legal terms are followed by their equivalents in Arabic. That could suggest that the Nabataeans used Arabic in their legal proceedings but recorded them in Aramaic. The name may be derived from the same root as Akkadian nabatu , to shine brightly. Although not as dry as at present,
3650-522: 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. 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
3796-460: A public bath was built with the proceeds from the entrance fees paid by "supernumerary" members of the council, enrolled with Trajan's permission. According to the Digest , Trajan decreed that when a city magistrate promised to achieve a particular public building, his heirs inherited responsibility for its completion. Trajan was a prolific builder. Many of his buildings were designed and erected by
3942-560: A recipe for fermented Nabatean water bread ( khubz al-ma al-nabati ). The yeast-leavened bread is made with a high quality wheat flour called samidh that is finely milled and free of bran and is baked in a tandoor . Based on coins, inscriptions and non-Nabatean contemporary sources, Nabataean women seem to have had many legal rights. Inscriptions on tombs demonstrate the equality of property rights between man and woman and women's rights in matters of inheritance and also their ability to make decisions about their own property. That set
4088-482: A role model, for, according to Pliny, "men learn better from examples". Eventually, Trajan's popularity among his peers was such that the Roman Senate bestowed upon him the honorific of optimus , meaning "the best", which appears on coins from 105 on. This title had mostly to do with Trajan's role as benefactor, such as in the case of his returning confiscated property. Pliny states that Trajan's ideal role
4234-461: A show". 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. Roman authorities liked to play the Greek cities against one another – something of which Dio of Prusa was fully aware: [B]y their public acts [the Roman governors] have branded you as
4380-428: 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. 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,
4526-545: A strategic threat and giving Trajan a strong motive to attack it. In May of 101, Trajan launched his first campaign into the Dacian kingdom, crossing to the northern bank of the Danube and defeating the Dacian army at Tapae (see Second Battle of Tapae ), near the Iron Gates of Transylvania . It was not a decisive victory, however. Trajan's troops took heavy losses in the encounter, and he put off further campaigning for
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4672-992: A strong local power base, caused by the size of the town from which they came, made it necessary for the Ulpii (and for the Aelii , the other important senatorial family of Italica with whom they were allied) to weave local alliances, in the Baetica (with the Annii , the Ucubi and perhaps the Dasumii from Corduba), the Tarraconense and the Narbonense , here above all through Pompeia Plotina , Trajan's wife. Many of these alliances were made not in Spain, but in Rome. The family home in Rome,
4818-453: A very narrow territory under its direct administration. Trajan's year of birth is not reliably attested and may instead have been AD 56. The epitome of Cassius Dio's Roman history describes Trajan as "an Iberian and neither an Italian nor even an Italiote", but this claim is contradicted by other ancient sources and rejected by modern scholars, who have reconstructed Trajan's Italic lineage. Appian states that Trajan's hometown of Italica
4964-521: Is believed to be Quintus Marcius Barea Sura . Her mother was Antonia Furnilla , daughter of Aulus Antonius Rufus and Furnia . Trajan owned some lands called Figlinae Marcianae in Ameria , another Umbrian town, located near both Tuder and Reate (the home of the Flavian dynasty) and believed to be the home of Marcia's family. The line of the Ulpii continued long after Trajan's death. His elder sister
5110-404: Is generally agreed that Pliny, being part of the emperor's inner circle, provides a unique and valuable source of information through his letters with Trajan, the only surviving correspondence between a governor and his emperor. However, it has been argued that Pliny's correspondence with Trajan is neither intimate nor candid, but rather an exchange of official mail in which Pliny's stance borders on
5256-531: Is located in northern Jordan at the boundary between the Hauran plateau and the Syrian Desert , about 80 km north of Amman . It is the capital and largest city of Mafraq Governorate. The city is close to three major cities in the region, Amman to the south, Irbid to the west, and Damascus to the north. Mafraq has a cold semi-arid climate ( Köppen climate classification BSk ). Most rain falls in
5402-518: Is lost with the exception of one sentence. Only fragments remain of the Getica , a book by Trajan's personal physician Titus Statilius Criton . The Parthica , a 17-volume account of the Parthian Wars written by Arrian , has met a similar fate. Book 68 in Greek author Cassius Dio 's Roman History , which survives mostly as Byzantine abridgements and epitomes , is the main source for
5548-544: Is one of the few rulers whose reputation has survived 19 centuries. Every new emperor after him was honoured by the Senate with the wish felicior Augusto, melior Traiano (that he be "luckier than Augustus and better than Trajan"). Among medieval Christian theologians, Trajan was considered a virtuous pagan . In the Renaissance , Machiavelli , speaking on the advantages of adoptive succession over heredity, mentioned
5694-462: Is said to have informed Hadrian in 108 that he had been chosen as Trajan's imperial heir. As governor of Upper Germany (Germania Superior) during Nerva's reign, Trajan received the impressive title of Germanicus for his skilful management and rule of the volatile Imperial province. When Nerva died on 28 January 98, Trajan succeeded to the role of emperor without any outward adverse incident. The fact that he chose not to hasten towards Rome, but made
5840-427: Is seen in Trajan's decision to forbid Nicomedia from having a corps of firemen ("If people assemble for a common purpose ... 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. Pliny's letters suggest that Trajan and his aides were as much bored as they were alarmed by
5986-529: The municipium of Italica in the present-day Andalusian province of Seville in southern Spain, an Italic settlement in Hispania Baetica ; his gens Ulpia came from the town of Tuder in the Umbria region of central Italy. His namesake father, Marcus Ulpius Traianus , was a general and distinguished senator. Trajan rose to prominence during the reign of Domitian ; in AD 89, serving as
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6132-708: The Epitome de Caesaribus , was the town of Tuder ( Todi ) in the Umbria region of central Italy . This is confirmed by archeology, with epigraphic evidence placing both the Ulpii and the Traii in Umbria generally and Tuder specifically, and by linguistic studies of the family names Ulpius and Traius which show that both are of Osco-Umbrian origin. It is unknown whether Trajan's ancestors were Roman citizens or not at their arrival in Spain. They would have certainly possessed Roman citizenship in case they arrived after
6278-554: The Qasr al Bint i temple was dedicated to Dushara then the other major temple must have been al-Uzzas. This is just a theory however, based on conjecture, and it can only be said that the temple is likely dedicated to the supreme goddess figure of the Nabateans, but the exact identity of this goddess is uncertain. Excavated from The Temple of the Winged Lions was the "Eye Baetyl " or "Eye-Idol". Numerous Nabatean bas-relief busts of
6424-523: The Roman currency , decreasing the silver content of the denarius from 93.5% to 89.0% – the actual silver weight dropping from 3.04 grams to 2.88 grams. This devaluation, along with the massive amounts of gold and silver acquired through his 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
6570-476: The Second Sophistic ; this "cultural patriotism" acted as a kind of substitute for the loss of political independence, and as such was shunned by Roman authorities. As Trajan himself wrote to Pliny: "These poor Greeks all love a gymnasium ... they will have to content with one that suits their real needs". The first known corrector was charged with a commission "to deal with the situation of
6716-714: The Seleucids , marrying a female member of the Nabatean royal family reinforced a ruler's position or one whose claim to the throne was not as strong as his wife's. The Nabatean royal house like the Ptolemaic and Seleucids later adopted sibling marriage. Not much is known for certain about the fashions of ancient Nabateans and before the Hellenization and Romanization of the region but based on extant clothes and textiles found in graves and tombs on Nabatean territory,
6862-478: The Social War (91–87 BC) , when Tuder became a municipium of Roman citizens. In Spain they may well have intermarried with native Iberians, in which case they would have lost their citizenship. Had they lacked or lost the status of Roman citizens, they would have achieved it or recovered it when Italica became a municipium with Latin rights in the mid-1st century BC. Trajan's paternal grandfather Ulpius married
7008-415: 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." In 107, Trajan devalued
7154-441: The "tyrant" Domitian – attributes to him, at the time, various (and unspecified) feats of arms. Domitian's successor, Nerva , was unpopular with the army, and had been forced by his Praetorian Prefect Casperius Aelianus to execute Domitian's killers. Nerva needed the army's support to avoid being ousted. He accomplished this in the summer of 97 by naming Trajan as his adoptive son and successor, claiming that this
7300-464: The 3rd century, states that in Dūmah , a boy was sacrificed annually and was buried underneath an altar. Some scholars have extrapolated this practice to the rest of the Nabataeans, but this view is contested due to the lack of evidence. The Nabataeans used to represent their gods as featureless pillars or blocks . Their most common monuments to the gods, commonly known as "god blocks", involved cutting away
7446-640: The Dacians, devoid of manoeuvring room, kept to their network of fortresses, which the Romans sought systematically to storm (see also Second Dacian War ). The Romans gradually tightened their grip around Decebalus' stronghold in Sarmizegetusa Regia , which they finally took and destroyed. A controversial scene on Trajan's column just before the fall of Sarmizegetusa Regia suggests that Decebalus may have offered poison to his remaining men as an alternative option to capture or death while trying to flee
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#17327825228247592-747: The Danubian lands; when Rome was weak, as during the Crisis of the Third Century , the province became a liability and was eventually abandoned. Trajan resettled Dacia with Romans and annexed it as a province of the Roman Empire. Aside from their enormous booty (over half a million slaves, according to John Lydus ), Trajan's Dacian campaigns benefited the Empire's finances through the acquisition of Dacia's gold mines, managed by an imperial procurator of equestrian rank ( procurator aurariarum ). On
7738-658: The Diadochi ; at that time Hieronymus of Cardia , a Seleucid officer, mentioned the Nabataeans in a battle report. About 50 BC, the Greek historian Diodorus Siculus cited Hieronymus in his report, and added the following: "Just as the Seleucids had tried to subdue them, so the Romans made several attempts to get their hands on that lucrative trade." They wrote a letter to Antigonus in Syriac letters, and Aramaic continued as
7884-1097: The Domus Traiana, was on the Aventine Hill ; excavations under the Piazza del Tempio di Diana found remains thought to be of the family's large suburban villa, with evidence of highly decorated rooms. As a young man Trajan rose through the ranks of the Roman army , serving in some of the most contested parts of the empire's frontier. In 76–77, his father was Governor of Syria ( Legatus pro praetore Syriae ), where Trajan himself remained as Tribunus legionis . From there, after his father's replacement, he seems to have been transferred to an unspecified Rhine province, and Pliny implies that he engaged in active combat duty during both commissions. In about 86, Trajan's cousin Aelius Afer died, leaving his young children Hadrian and Paulina orphans. Trajan and his colleague Publius Acilius Attianus became co-guardians of
8030-434: The East, that meant the families of Greek notables. The Greeks, though, had their own memories of independence – and a commonly acknowledged sense of cultural superiority – and, instead of seeing themselves as Roman, disdained Roman rule. 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
8176-622: The Great , suffect consul in 116. 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. But then Trajan's new Eastern senators were mostly very powerful and very wealthy men with more than local influence and much interconnected by marriage, so that many of them were not altogether "new" to
8322-567: The Iron Gate's gorge. A canal was built between the Danube's Kasajna tributary and Ducis Pratum, circumventing rapids and cataracts. 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. To accommodate it, parts of the Capitoline and Quirinal Hills had to be removed, the latter enlarging
8468-494: The Jordan river to Philadelphia (modern Amman ) and both sides set up camp. The Nabataeans under Elthemus refused to give battle, so Herod forced the issue when he attacked their camp . A confused mass of Nabataeans gave battle but were defeated. Once they had retreated to their defences, Herod laid siege to the camp and over time some of the defenders surrendered. The remaining Nabataean forces offered 500 talents for peace, but this
8614-533: The Nabataean Arabs , and was the official god of the Nabataean Kingdom who enjoyed special royal patronage. His official position is reflected in multiple inscriptions that render him as "The god of our lord" (The King). The name Dushara is from the Arabic "Dhu ash-Shara": which simply means "the one of Shara", a mountain range south-east of Petra also known as Mount Seir . Therefore, from
8760-479: The Nabataean towns of Moab and Gilead and imposed a tribute of an unknown amount. Obodas I knew that Alexander would attack, so was able to ambush Alexander's forces near Gaulane destroying the Judean army (90 BC). The Roman military was not very successful in their campaigns against the Nabataeans. In 62 BC, Marcus Aemilius Scaurus accepted a bribe of 300 talents to lift the siege of Petra, partly because of
8906-468: The Nabataeans had already some trace of Aramaic culture when they first appear in history. Some of the authors of Safaitic inscriptions identified themselves as Nabataeans. The extent of Nabataean trade resulted in cross-cultural influences that reached as far as the Red Sea coast of southern Arabia. The major gods worshiped at Petra were notably Dushara and Al-‘Uzzá . Dushara was the supreme deity of
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#17327825228249052-405: The Nabataeans' trade routes and the origins of their goods were regarded as trade secrets, and disguised in tales that should have strained outsiders' credulity. Diodorus Siculus (book II) described them as a strong tribe of some 10,000 warriors, preeminent among the nomads of Arabia, eschewing agriculture, fixed houses, and the use of wine, but adding to pastoral pursuits a profitable trade with
9198-470: The Nabateans apart from the attitudes on a woman's role in society by their neighbours in the region. Women also participated in religious activities, and had a right to visit the temples and make sacrifices. Archeological evidence strongly suggest that the Nabataean women had a role in the social and political life by the first century AD, which is shown by the fact that Nabatean queens were depicted on coins, both independentely and together with their spouse
9344-534: The Northern Syrian goddess Atargatis were identified by Nelson Glueck at Khirbet et-Tannû . Atargatis was amalgamated into the worship of Al-‘Uzzá. However, when the Romans annexed the Nabataean Kingdom, Dushara still had an important role despite losing his former royal privilege. The greatest testimony to the status of the god after the fall of the Nabataean Kingdom was during the 1000th anniversary of
9490-492: The Roman-allied Thamud tribe and were built to describe the temple they were inscribed in and to recognize the authority of the emperors Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus . By the 3rd century AD, the Nabataeans had stopped writing in Aramaic and begun writing in Greek instead. By the 5th century AD, they had converted to Christianity. The new Arab invaders, who soon pressed forward into their seats , found
9636-403: The Royal House of Commagene , left behind him a funeral monument on the Mouseion Hill that was later disparagingly described by Pausanias as "a monument built to a Syrian man". 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
9782-418: The Sarmatians living at the borders. Therefore, the indefensible character of the province did not appear to be a problem for Trajan, as the province was conceived more as a sally-base for further attacks. Even in the absence of further Roman expansion, the value of the province depended on Roman overall strength: while Rome was strong, the Dacian salient was an instrument of military and diplomatic control over
9928-403: The Senate. On the local level, among the lower section of the Eastern propertied, 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. One of Trajan's senatorial creations from the East, the Athenian Gaius Julius Antiochus Epiphanes Philopappos , a member of
10074-536: The Temple of Khnum at Esna . He built palatial villas outside Rome at Arcinazzo , at Centumcellae and at Talamone . He also built a bath complex as well as the Aqua Traiana . 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 religious theatrical spectacles and games , and public processions on
10220-424: The VII Gemina legion to Legio in Hispania Tarraconensis. In 91 he held a consulate with Acilius Glabrio , a rarity in that neither consul was a member of the ruling dynasty. He held an unspecified consular commission as governor of either Pannonia or Germania Superior , or possibly both. Pliny – who seems to deliberately avoid offering details that would stress personal attachment between Trajan and
10366-424: The accumulation of loess in wadis and create an infrastructure for agricultural activity. This theory has also been explored by E. Mazor, of the Weizmann Institute of Science . Trajan Trajan ( / ˈ t r eɪ dʒ ən / TRAY -jən ; born Marcus Ulpius Traianus , 18 September 53 – c. 9 August 117 ) was a Roman emperor from AD 98 to 117, remembered as
10512-532: The aid of the troops in his rearguard. The Dacians and their allies were repulsed after two battles in Moesia, at Nicopolis ad Istrum and Adamclisi . Trajan's army then advanced further into Dacian territory, and, a year later, forced Decebalus to submit. He had to renounce claim to some regions of his kingdom, return runaways from Rome then under his protection (most of them technical experts), and surrender all his war machines. Trajan returned to Rome in triumph and
10658-492: The ancient world. Described as fiercely independent by contemporary Greco-Roman accounts, the Nabataeans were annexed into the Roman Empire by Emperor Trajan in 106 AD. Nabataeans' individual culture, easily identified by their characteristic finely potted painted ceramics, was adopted into the larger Greco-Roman culture . They converted to Christianity during the Later Roman Era . They have been described as one of
10804-434: The appointing of imperial correctores to audit the civic finances of the technically free Greek cities . 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. Competition among Greek cities and their ruling oligarchies
10950-422: The area occupied by the Nabataeans was still a desert and required special techniques for agriculture. One was to contour an area of land into a shallow funnel and to plant a single fruit tree in the middle. Before the ' rainy season ', which could easily consist of only one or two rain events, the area around the tree was broken up. When the rain came, all the water that collected in the funnel would flow down toward
11096-469: The area of Nabataean culture, which extended as far north as the north end of the Dead Sea , and testify to widespread literacy; but except for a few letters no Nabataean literature has survived, nor was any noted in antiquity. Onomastic analysis has suggested that Nabataean culture may have had multiple influences. Classical references to the Nabataeans begin with Diodorus Siculus . They suggest that
11242-644: The assumed capital city of Raqmu (present-day Petra , Jordan ) —gave the name Nabatene ( Ancient Greek : Ναβατηνή , romanized : Nabatēnḗ ) to the Arabian borderland that stretched from the Euphrates to the Red Sea . The Nabateans emerged as a distinct civilization and political entity between the 4th and 2nd centuries BC, with their kingdom centered around a loosely controlled trading network that brought considerable wealth and influence across
11388-817: The base for the Arab Legion during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War . Mafraq is the headquarters of the Third Division of the Jordanian Army . King Hussein Air College and an air base of the Royal Jordanian Air Force are also located in the city. In 1945, the Municipality of Mafraq was established, with Ali Abdeyyah as its first mayor. As of 2016, 50% of the population of Mafraq were Syrian refugees . The city of Mafraq
11534-521: The besieged capital with him. Decebalus fled but, when later cornered by Roman cavalry, committed suicide. His severed head, brought to Trajan by the cavalryman Tiberius Claudius Maximus , was later exhibited in Rome on the steps leading up to the Capitol and thrown on the Gemonian stairs . The famous Dacian treasures were not found in the captured capital and their whereabouts were only revealed when
11680-551: 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. 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. A similar situation existed in Claudiopolis , where
11826-490: The bottom. The upper class of Nabataean society, what can be seen on coins, show an even stronger Greek and Roman influence. The kings are depicted clean-shaven with long curled hair while queens are depicted wearing headcoverings with curled hair and long tunics and highnecked garments. Purple cloth seems to have been associated with the king based on Strabo's account of Nabatean men going outside "without tunics girdles about their loins, and with slippers on their feet – even
11972-466: 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. Severus was the grandfather of the prominent general Gaius Julius Quadratus Bassus , consul in 105. Other prominent Eastern senators included Gaius Julius Alexander Berenicianus , a descendant of Herod
12118-403: The city. It was established in 1992 and is located on the south-eastern outskirts of Mafraq city. Nabataeans The Nabataeans or Nabateans ( / ˌ n æ b ə ˈ t iː ən z / ; Nabataean Aramaic : 𐢕𐢃𐢋𐢈 , NBṬW , vocalized as Nabāṭū ) were an ancient Arab people who inhabited northern Arabia and the southern Levant . Their settlements—most prominently
12264-406: The claims of Dio and other Greek notables to political influence based on what they saw as their "special connection" to their Roman overlords. 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. Nevertheless, while
12410-400: The clothing worn by the Nabateans during the first and second century were not unlike their neighbour Judaeans. Its hard to say with any certainty what the Nabateans wore in more ancient times since their art before this period was non-figurative. That is based on finds of similar clothing and textiles being found in both places. Among the most common colors were yellow made from saffron and
12556-525: 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 . In Egypt, Trajan was "quite active" in constructing and embellishing buildings. He is portrayed, together with Domitian , on the propylon of the Temple of Hathor at Dendera . His cartouche also appears in the column shafts of
12702-506: The difficult terrain and the fact that he had run out of supplies. Hyrcanus II , who was a friend of Aretas, was despatched by Scaurus to the King to buy peace. In so obtaining peace, King Aretas retained all his possessions, including Damascus, and became a Roman vassal. In 32 BC, during King Malichus I 's reign, Herod the Great , with the support of Cleopatra , started a war against Nabataea. The war began with Herod plundering Nabataea with
12848-576: 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. His belated ceremonial entry into Rome in 99 was notably understated, something on which Pliny the Younger elaborated. By not openly supporting Domitian's preference for equestrian officers, Trajan appeared to conform to
12994-441: The enigmatic phenomenon of "Tuleilat el-Anab". Evenari showed that the runoff rainwater collection systems concentrate water from an area that is five times larger than the area in which the water actually drains. Another study was conducted by Y. Kedar in 1957, which also focused on the mechanism of the agriculture systems, but he studied soil management , and claimed that the ancient agriculture systems were intended to increase
13140-623: The establishment of the Hejaz Railway connecting Damascus (and by extension Istanbul) to Medina in 1908. The Ottoman Turks renamed the city "Mafraq", which means "crossroads" in Arabic. Mafraq was the location of a British military base and airport during the British post- WWI Mandate . During the Second World War , the city's military base hosted British troops from India, Australia and other British colonies. It later became
13286-467: The existing quasi-urban Dacian settlements disappeared after the Roman conquest. A number of unorganized urban settlements ( vici ) developed around military encampments in Dacia proper – the most important being Apulum – but were only acknowledged as cities proper well after Trajan's reign. The main regional effort of urbanization was concentrated by Trajan at the rearguard, in Moesia, where he created
13432-593: The first Hasmoneans in their struggles against the Seleucid monarchs. They then became rivals of the Judaean dynasty, and a chief element in the disorders that invited Pompey 's intervention in Judea . According to popular historian Paul Johnson , many Nabataeans were forcefully converted to Judaism by Hasmonean king Alexander Jannaeus . It was this king who, after putting down a local rebellion, invaded and occupied
13578-595: The five successive good emperors "from Nerva to Marcus " – a trope out of which the 18th-century historian Edward Gibbon popularized the notion of the Five Good Emperors , of whom Trajan was the second. An account of the Dacian Wars , the Commentarii de bellis Dacicis , written by Trajan himself or a ghostwriter and modelled after Caesar 's Commentarii de Bello Gallico ,
13724-549: The founding of Rome where Dushara was celebrated in Bostra by striking coins in his name, Actia Dusaria (linking the god with Augustus victory at Actium ). He was venerated in his Arabian name with a Greek fashion in the reign of an Arabian emperor, Philip . Other gods worshipped in Nabatea during this period were Isis , Balshamin and Obodat Sacrifices of animals were common, and Porphyry 's De Abstenentia , written in
13870-655: The fourth century. It accommodated Trajan's Market, and an adjacent brick market. 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 Beneventum to Brundisium and the Via Traiana Nova , a mostly military road between Damascus and Aila , which Rome employed in its annexation of Nabataea and founding of Arabia Province . Some historians attribute
14016-540: 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. It is noteworthy that an embassy from Dio's city of Prusa was not favourably received by Trajan, 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. Eventually, Dio gained for Prusa
14162-462: The fruit tree and sink into the ground. The ground, which was largely loess , would seal up when it got wet and retain the water. In the mid-1950s, a research team headed by Michael Evenari set up a research station near Avdat (Evenari, Shenan and Tadmor 1971). He focused on the relevance of runoff rainwater management in explaining the mechanism of the ancient agricultural features, such as terraced wadis, channels for collecting runoff rainwater, and
14308-405: The gifted architect Apollodorus of Damascus , including a 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. Trajan's works at the Iron Gates region of the Danube created or enlarged the boardwalk road cut into the cliff-face along
14454-422: The idea (developed by Pliny) that an emperor derived his legitimacy from his adherence to traditional hierarchies and senatorial morals. Therefore, he could point to the allegedly republican character of his rule. In a speech at the inauguration of his third consulship, on 1 January 100, Trajan exhorted the senate to share the care-taking of the empire with him – an event later celebrated on
14600-449: The incorporation of Armenia , Mesopotamia , and Assyria as Roman provinces. In August AD 117, while sailing back to Rome, Trajan fell ill and died of a stroke in the city of Selinus . He was deified by the senate and his successor Hadrian (Trajan's cousin). According to historical tradition, Trajan's ashes were entombed in a small room beneath Trajan's Column . As an emperor, Trajan's reputation has endured – he
14746-500: 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. 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
14892-453: The king. The assumption to be made from this were that they ruled together and that the Nabatean queens and other female members were given or already had political importance and status. One can surmise other Nabatean women also benefited from this by extension. Though admittedly Nabatean culture seems to have favored male succession rather than female or equal succession, it seems plausible that like their neighbouring Ptolemaic dynasty and
15038-580: The kings, though in their case the colour is purple." Historians such as Irfan Shahîd , Warwick Ball , Robert G. Hoyland , Michael C. A. Macdonald , and others believe Nabataeans spoke Arabic as their native language. John F. Healy states that "Nabataeans normally spoke a form of Arabic, while, like the Persians etc., they used Aramaic for formal purposes and especially for inscriptions." Proper names on their inscriptions suggest that they were ethnically Arabs who had come under Aramaic influence, and
15184-514: The language of their coins and inscriptions when the tribe grew into a kingdom and profited by the decay of the Seleucids to extend its borders northward over the more fertile country east of the Jordan River . They occupied Hauran , and in about 85 BC their king Aretas III became lord of Damascus and Coele-Syria . Petra was rapidly built in the 1st century BC, and developed a population estimated at 20,000. The Nabataeans were allies of
15330-472: The more popular Trajan, who had distinguished himself in military campaigns against Germanic tribes. As emperor of Rome, Trajan oversaw the construction of building projects such as the forum named after him , the introduction of social welfare policies such as the alimenta , and new military conquests. He annexed Nabataea and Dacia , and his war against the Parthian Empire ended with
15476-455: The most gifted peoples of the ancient world and one of the "most unjustly forgotten". The Nabataeans were an Arab tribe who had come under significant Babylonian - Aramaean influence. The first mention of the Nabataeans dates from 312/311 BC, when they were attacked at Sela or perhaps at Petra without success by Antigonus I 's officer Athenaeus in the course of the Third War of
15622-487: The new cities of Nicopolis ad Istrum and Marcianopolis . A vicus was also created around the Tropaeum Traianum. The garrison city of Oescus received the status of Roman colony after its legionary garrison was redeployed. The fact that these former Danubian outposts had ceased to be frontier bases and were now in the deep rear acted as an inducement to their urbanization and development. Not all of Dacia
15768-413: The office of corrector was intended as a tool to curb any hint of independent political activity among local notables in the Greek cities, 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
15914-449: The other hand, commercial agricultural exploitation on the villa model, based on the centralized management of a huge landed estate by a single owner ( fundus ) was poorly developed. Therefore, use of slave labor in the province itself seems to have been relatively undeveloped, and epigraphic evidence points to work in the gold mines being conducted by means of labor contracts ( locatio conductio rei ) and seasonal wage-earning. The victory
16060-587: The political history of Trajan's rule. Besides this, Pliny the Younger 's Panegyricus and Dio Chrysostom 's orations are the best surviving contemporary sources. Both are adulatory perorations , typical of the High Imperial period, that describe an idealized monarch and an equally idealized view of Trajan's rule, and concern themselves more with ideology than with fact. The 10th volume of Pliny's letters contains his correspondence with Trajan, which deals with various aspects of imperial Roman government. It
16206-471: The populace; the more "serious matter" of the corn dole aimed to satisfy individuals. 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 . Trajan told Pliny to continue prosecutions of Christians if they merited that, but not to accept anonymous or malicious denunciations. He considered this to be in
16352-426: The post was conceived as a means for "taming" both Greek notables and Roman senators. 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 vigintiviri ). Such must be
16498-457: The provincial government, as was Italy) and to concentrate on their local interests. 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 – primarily in failing to keep the common people under control, thus creating the need for the Roman governor to intervene. An excellent example of this Greek alienation
16644-655: The races, alongside his family and images of the gods, At some time during 108 or 109, Trajan held 123 days of games to celebrate his Dacian victory. They involved "fully 10,000" gladiators and the slaughter of thousands, "possibly tens of thousands," of animals, both wild and domestic. 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". State-funded public entertainments helped to maintain contentment among
16790-544: The region's lingua franca . Therefore, Aramaic was used for commercial and official purposes across the Nabataean political sphere. The Nabataean alphabet itself also developed out of the Aramaic alphabet , but it used a distinctive cursive script from which the Arabic alphabet emerged. There are different opinions concerning the development of the Arabic script. J. Starcky considers the Lakhmids ' Syriac form script as
16936-801: The remnants of the Nabataeans transformed into peasants . Their lands were divided between the new Qahtanite Arab tribal kingdoms of the Byzantine vassals, the Ghassanid Arabs, and the Himyarite vassals, the Kingdom of Kinda in North Arabia. The city of Petra was brought to the attention of Westerners by the Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt in 1812. Many examples of graffiti and inscriptions—largely of names and greetings—document
17082-468: The right to become the head of the assize-district, 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. Eventually, it fell to Pliny, as imperial governor of Bithynia in AD 110, to deal with the consequences of the financial mess wrought by Dio and his fellow civic officials. "It's well established that [the cities' finances] are in
17228-617: The same full name, Sarmizegetusa. This capital city was conceived as a purely civilian administrative centre and was provided the usual Romanized administrative apparatus ( decurions , aediles , etc.). Urban life in Roman Dacia seems to have been restricted to Roman colonists, mostly military veterans; there is no extant evidence for the existence in the province of peregrine cities. Native Dacians continued to live in scattered rural settlements, according to their own ways. In another arrangement with no parallels in any other Roman province,
17374-484: The seaports in frankincense , myrrh and spices from Arabia Felix (today's Yemen), as well as a trade with Egypt in bitumen from the Dead Sea. Their arid country was their best safeguard, for the bottle-shaped cisterns for rain-water which they excavated in the rocky or clay-rich soil were carefully concealed from invaders. Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq 's Kitab al-Tabikh , the earliest known Arabic cookbook , contains
17520-582: The second of the Five Good Emperors of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty . He was a philanthropic ruler and a successful soldier-emperor who presided over one of the greatest military expansions in Roman history , during which, by the time of his death, the Roman Empire reached its maximum territorial extent. He was given the title of Optimus ('the best') by the Roman Senate . Trajan was born in
17666-455: The senatorial provinces of Achaea and Bithynia into imperial ones in order to deal with the inordinate spending on public works by local magnates and the general mismanagement of provincial affairs by various proconsuls appointed by the Senate. 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. If in reality Trajan
17812-420: The servile. Some authors have even proposed that much of the text was written and/or edited by Trajan's Imperial secretary, his ab epistulis . Given the scarcity of literary sources, discussion of Trajan and his rule in modern historiography cannot avoid speculation. Non-literary sources such as archaeology, epigraphy , and numismatics are also useful for reconstructing his reign. Marcus Ulpius Traianus
17958-534: The time of Trajan, who reduced Petra and converted the Nabataean client state into the Roman province of Arabia Petraea . There was a Nabataean community in Puteoli , in southern Italy, that reached its end around the establishment of the province. Five Greek-Nabataean bilingual inscriptions are known dating to AD 165–169, known as the Ruwafa inscriptions . They are ascribed to an auxiliary military unit drawn from
18104-455: The two children. Trajan, in his late thirties, was created ordinary consul for the year 91. This early appointment may reflect the prominence of his father's career, as his father had been instrumental to the ascent of the ruling Flavian dynasty , held consular rank himself and had just been made a patrician . Around this time Trajan brought the architect and engineer Apollodorus of Damascus with him to Rome , and married Pompeia Plotina ,
18250-413: The very last!" These same Roman authorities had also an interest in assuring the cities' solvency and therefore ready collection of Imperial taxes. 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 – something expressed in the contemporary rise of
18396-476: The whole top of a hill or cliff face so as to leave only a block behind. However, over time the Nabataeans were influenced by Greece and Rome and their Gods became anthropomorphic and were represented with human features. The Nabataeans spoke an Arabic dialect but, for their inscriptions, used a form of Aramaic that was heavily influenced by Arabic forms and words. When communicating with other Middle Eastern peoples, they, like their neighbors, used Aramaic,
18542-462: The winter. The average annual temperature in Mafraq is 16.6 °C (61.9 °F). About 184 mm (7.24 in) of precipitation falls annually. The international highway that connects Damascus to Riyadh passes through the city. Mafraq has a station on the 1,050 mm ( 3 ft 5 + 11 ⁄ 32 in ) national railway system. Al al-Bayt University is the only university in
18688-461: The year in order to regroup and reinforce his army. Nevertheless, the battle was considered a Roman victory and Trajan strived to ultimately consolidate his position, including other major engagements, as well as the capture of Decebalus' sister as depicted on Trajan's Column. The following winter, Decebalus took the initiative by launching a counter-attack across the Danube further downstream, supported by Sarmatian cavalry, forcing Trajan to come to
18834-552: Was Lucius Licinius Sura , a Roman senator born in Spain and the governor of Germania Inferior , who was Trajan's personal friend and became an official adviser of the Emperor. Sura was highly influential, and was appointed consul for a third term in 107. Some senators may have resented Sura's activities as a kingmaker and éminence grise , among them the historian Tacitus, who acknowledged Sura's military and oratorical talents, but compared his rapacity and devious ways to those of Vespasian 's éminence grise Licinius Mucianus . Sura
18980-475: Was Ulpia Marciana , and his niece was Salonia Matidia . Very little is known about Trajan's early formative years, but it is thought likely that he spent his first months or years in Italica before moving to Rome and then, perhaps at around eight or nine years of age, he almost certainly would have returned temporarily to Italica with his father during Trajanus's governorship of Baetica (ca. 64–65). The lack of
19126-483: 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 . In his third kingship oration, Dio describes an ideal king ruling by means of "friendship" – that is, through patronage and
19272-564: Was a cosmopolitan marketplace, though its commerce was diminished by the rise of the Eastern trade-route from Myos Hormos to Coptos on the Nile . Under the Pax Romana , the Nabataeans lost their warlike and nomadic habits and became a sober, acquisitive, orderly people, wholly intent on trade and agriculture. The kingdom was a bulwark between Rome and the wild hordes of the desert except in
19418-471: Was an ex post facto fiction developed by authors writing under Trajan, including Tacitus and Pliny . According to the Historia Augusta , the future Emperor Hadrian brought word to Trajan of his adoption. Trajan retained Hadrian on the Rhine frontier as a military tribune , and Hadrian thus became privy to the circle of friends and relations with whom Trajan surrounded himself. Among them
19564-512: Was an autocrat, his deferential behavior towards his peers qualified him to be viewed as a virtuous monarch. The idea is that Trajan wielded autocratic power through moderatio instead of contumacia – moderation instead of insolence. 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
19710-419: Was apparently executed forthwith ("put out of the way"), and his now-vacant post taken by Attius Suburanus . Trajan's accession, therefore, could qualify more as a successful coup than an orderly succession. On his entry to Rome, Trajan granted the plebs a direct gift of money. The traditional donative to the troops, however, was reduced by half. There remained the issue of the strained relations between
19856-433: Was between 150,000 and 175,000, while Decebalus could dispose of up to 200,000. Other estimates for the Roman forces involved in Trajan's second Dacian War cite around 86,000 for active campaigning with large reserves retained in the proximal provinces, and potentially much lower numbers around 50,000 for Decebalus' depleted forces and absent allies. In a fierce campaign that seems to have consisted mostly of static warfare,
20002-410: Was born on 18 September AD 53 in the Roman province of Hispania Baetica (in what is now Andalusia in modern Spain ), in the municipium of Italica (now in the municipal area of Santiponce , in the outskirts of Seville ), a Roman colony established in 206 BC by Scipio Africanus . At the time of Trajan's birth it was a small town, without baths, theatre and amphitheatre, and with
20148-441: Was entirely due to Trajan's outstanding military merits. There are hints, however, in contemporary literary sources that Trajan's adoption was imposed on Nerva. Pliny implied as much when he wrote that, although an emperor could not be coerced into doing something, if this was the way in which Trajan was raised to power, then it was worth it. Alice König argues that the notion of a natural continuity between Nerva's and Trajan's reigns
20294-600: Was granted the title Dacicus . The peace of 102 had returned Decebalus to the condition of more or less harmless client king; however, he soon began to rearm, to again harbour Roman runaways, and to pressure his Western neighbours, the Iazyges Sarmatians, into allying themselves with him. Through his efforts to develop an anti-Roman bloc, Decebalus prevented Trajan from treating Dacia as a protectorate instead of an outright conquest. In 104, Decebalus devised an attempt on Trajan's life by means of some Roman deserters,
20440-411: Was identified. "His throne" was frequently mentioned in inscriptions; certain interpretations of the text consider it as a reference for Dushara's wife, goddess Harisha. She was probably a solar deity. Dushara's consort at Petra is considered to have been al-Uzza and the goddess has been associated with Temple of Winged Lions on the basis that if the divine couple of Petra was Dushara and al-Uzza and
20586-406: 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. 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 ... structures that would make
20732-649: Was permanently occupied. After the post-Trajanic evacuation of lands across the lower Danube, land extending from the Danube to the inner arch of the Carpathian Mountains , including Transylvania , the Metaliferi Mountains and Oltenia was absorbed into the Roman province, which eventually took the form of an "excrescence" with ill-defined limits, stretching from the Danube northwards to the Carpathians . This may have been intended as
20878-497: Was posted to Brigetio , in Pannonia . By 105, the concentration of Roman troops assembled in the middle and lower Danube amounted to fourteen legions (up from nine in 101) – about half of the entire Roman army. Even after the Dacian wars, the Danube frontier would permanently replace the Rhine as the main military axis of the Roman Empire. Including auxiliaries , the number of Roman troops engaged on both campaigns
21024-413: Was rejected. Lacking water, the Nabataeans were forced out of their camp and battled but were defeated. Aretas, IV king of Nabatea, defeated Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great, in a battle after he intended to divorce his daughter Phasaelis An ally of the Roman Empire, the Nabataean kingdom flourished throughout the 1st century. Its power extended far into Arabia along the Red Sea to Yemen, and Petra
21170-569: Was settled by and named after Italic veterans who fought in Spain under Scipio, and new settlers arrived there from Italy in the following centuries. Among the Italic settlers were the Ulpii and the Traii , who were either part of the original colonists or arrived as late as the end of the 1st century BC. Their original home, according to the description of Trajan as "Ulpius Traianus ex urbe Tudertina" in
21316-425: Was the personal role played by Dio's relationship with Trajan. Dio is described by Philostratus as Trajan's close friend, and Trajan as supposedly engaging publicly in conversations with Dio. Nevertheless, as a Greek local magnate with a taste for costly building projects and pretensions of being an important political agent for Rome, Dio of Prusa was actually a target for one of Trajan's authoritarian innovations:
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