Browsing by Subject "Trajan, Emperor of Rome, 53-117"

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    Educatio et alimenta puellis: Munificence or political tricks of emperors?
    (2009) Derbew, Sarah; Germany, Robert
    I aim to explore Trajan's motive for providing grand munificence to poor girls by examining depictions of poor girls on coins and his arch in Beneventum. I also explore the use of education as part of this political agenda of emperors to create this debt. Through my examinations, I suggest that Trajan used his munificence to create an obligatory debt to reduce the possibility of poor girls gaining freedom and autonomy. Emperors depended on these poor girls because when they became older, they had the ability to populate the Empire with their children. Their children then could become laborers and soldiers, or future vessels of more children for the Roman Empire.
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    The First Spanish Emperors: Trajan, Hadrian, and Roman Hispanic Identity in the High Roman Empire
    (2020) Bórquez, Leah F.; Hayton, Darin; Gerstein, Linda
    Identity in the Roman Empire is a complex issue, as it touches every aspect of ancient life. There is no singular Roman identity, but what is seen as quintessentially Roman was typically dictated by elite culture in the city itself. For the first hundred or so years of the empire, the upper ranks of Roman society were filled with Roman Italians, usually from the city of Rome. This was always true for the emperor. However, in 98 CE, the emperor Nerva adopted Trajan, not only starting a line of adopted emperors, but also introducing provincial Romans into the principate for the first time. Trajan was the first of several provincial emperors. Both him and his successor Hadrian were from the city of Itálica in Hispania Baetica. Hadrian, in turn, adopted a Roman under the promise he would adopt Marcus Aurelius, an Italian of Hispanic background. Of the Nerva-Antonine dynasty, or the "adopted emperors," the majority of them were Hispanic. The second century was defined by the rule of several Hispanic Romans, however despite the introduction of provincial Romans into the pricipate being a large change and historic moment, it is rarely discussed in scholarship. Their identity is sidelined in their narratives today, even though origin and identity were large parts of Roman life and could determine how a person would operate in society, especially in the elite and political classes. My thesis aims to examine Trajan and Hadrian's relationship with their Hispanic identity. I will address questions on how Hispanic Romans were portrayed in society, how Trajan and Hadrian were received as Hispanic Romans, and how they were represented or related to their hometown in Itálica. This work takes a holistic view of identity including text, built environment, art, and architecture. In order to gain a more complete picture of Trajan and Hadrian as Romans, specifically Hispanic Romans, I make a methodological intervention in the way that scholarship treats Roman colonies and the process of colonization. I work to decenter the notions of Roman empire and push for a more localized analysis of various colonies, and in turn decenter the Mediterranean as the heart of life in Hispania Baetica.