Trajan: Optimus Princeps

Julian Bennett0415165245, 9780415165242

Did Trajan really deserve his reputation as the embodiment of all imperial virtues? Why did Dante, writing in the Middle Ages, place him in the sixth sphere of Heaven among the Just and Temperate rulers?
In this, the only biography of Trajan available in English, Julian Bennett rigorously tests the substance of this glorious reputation. Surprisingly, for a Roman emperor, Trajan comes through the test with his reputation relatively intact.

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Table of contents :
BOOK COVER……Page 1
HALF-TITLE……Page 2
TITLE……Page 3
COPYRIGHT……Page 4
CONTENTS……Page 5
FIGURES AND MAPS……Page 7
PLATES……Page 8
OUTLINE OF SIGNIFICANT EVENTS……Page 9
PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……Page 13
PROLEGOMENON……Page 17
I THE MAKING OF A NEW ARISTOCRACY……Page 21
The Imperial System of Government……Page 23
The Equestrian Order……Page 25
The Senate……Page 26
II THE RISE OF THE ULPII……Page 32
Trajan’s Career to 89……Page 40
III IMPERIAL EXPANSION AND CRISIS……Page 48
The Principate of Nerva……Page 55
IV DOMITIAN’S GENERAL, NERVA’S HEIR……Page 63
V THE NEW RULER……Page 74
VI A PUBLIC IDEOLOGY……Page 84
VII THE INAUGURATION OF A NEW ERA……Page 95
VIII DACICUS……Page 107
The Second Dacian War……Page 119
IX OPTIMUS PRINCEPS……Page 126
X LAW, FINANCE AND LITERATURE……Page 140
Finance……Page 146
Literature……Page 154
XI PATER PATRIAE……Page 160
Rome: Trajan’s Buildings before 106……Page 181
Rome: Trajan’s Buildings after 106……Page 186
XII ‘REDACTA IN FORMAM PROVINCIAE…’……Page 200
Dacia……Page 202
Arabia……Page 212
XIII PARTHICUS……Page 222
XIV A PERFECT PRINCE?……Page 244
The First Dacian War……Page 253
The Second Dacian War……Page 255
ABBREVIATIONS……Page 258
NOTES AND REFERENCES……Page 262
BIBLIOGRAPHY……Page 313
INDEX OF PERSONAL NAMES……Page 331
GENERAL INDEX……Page 337