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Nerva’s Rule
Domitian was disliked by all the elites, yet he had protected Rome’s internal administration and the state’s power. The Empire faced no existential threats and was well equipped to deal with any challenges. Nerva, an eminent and admired senator, nonetheless held the throne only as a rather weak placeholder. Nerva, ascending at age 66, had no son, no relation to any previous ruling dynasty, and no support group in the legions. However, Nerva was also intelligent, and understood his status. He began his reign by giving the legionnaires a pay raise, then brought back the previously exiled senators and cooperated with the Senate as a whole.
During his two-year rule, Nerva undertook three popular measures. First, he created the alimenta, an agricultural loan. Small farmers were allowed to borrow funds from the imperial treasury in order to improve their crops or implements and pay it back with low interest. This interest then went to the local towns and villages, where it was used to support poorer families and orphans. Second, in 98 CE, one of the Praetorian Prefects complained that no one had prosecuted Domitian's killers, and so Nerva did just that. Third, he handled the issue of succession brilliantly.
Nerva’s Succession
Having no son of his own, Nerva solved the problem of succession by adopting a son with a strong military reputation. This was Trajan, a legion commander in upper Germany. Not only did this calm Rome’s anxieties about the future, but it proved such a popular move that it set a trend: several subsequent emperors adopted their successors as sons shortly before their deaths. While the Julio-Claudians had adopted heirs on a few occasions, it was not the common practice it became throughout the 2nd century CE.
Nerva died in 98 CE, and Trajan humbly returned to Rome , making a good impression on the capital city elites. He was a significant departure from the norm, being from neither Rome nor Italy, but Iberia. This made him a trend-setter, as well, as the number non-Roman born emperors would expand in the future.
Western Expansion Under Trajan
Trajan was one of the most successful emperors in Roman historical memory after Augustus. He had served in both political and military spheres, but had a penchant for long-term military service, and was already a rather eminent general at the beginning of his rule. Early on, he conquered Dacia for Rome over the course of two wars. This was supposedly as an effort to restore Roman honor after Domitian's failures, but it became clear that Trajan also wanted a reputation based on conquest and its spoils. In 102 CE, he took an army across the Danube and fought his way into Dacia, and Decebalus became a client king. However, the settlement did not last, and in 105 CE, Decebalus massacred a Roman garrison in the region and began raiding Moesia again. Thus, in 106 CE, Trajan returned and stormed the Dacian capital. Defeated, Decebalus committed suicide, and the entire area was annexed directly to the Empire. With the extremely profitable conquest complete, the emperor opened the region up to settlement. Thousands of Latin-speaking peasants arrived, beginning the Latinization of the region, which would be completed over the next 150 years.
It was from this point that the Roman people and aristocracy came to view themselves as world-conquerors. At the same time, Romans under Trajan received good government. Trajan was as autocratic as Domitian but ensured a smooth relationship with the Senate by seeking their advice, reported back to them, and socializing with senators. Under Trajan, imperial legates were professional, the alimenta was expanded, and bankrupt cities were sent imperial curatores to reestablish financial balance. While this idea did work, over time, it would cause growing local resentment toward an increasingly obnoxious imperial bureaucracy.
Eastern Expansion Under Trajan
The next decade reinforced the conviction of Roman grandeur, particularly in the East. Trouble arose with Parthia once again when, in 110 CE, Parthian King Osroes installed his nephew as king of Armenia, violating Nero’s Parthian treaty. In 113 CE, Trajan moved east, ignoring Osroes’s peace envoys and annexing Armenia by 114 CE. In 115 CE Trajan moved further east, annexing Mesopotamia in the North and Assyria in the South.
In 116 CE, the Parthian capital Ctesiphon was then captured and sacked, with Osroes fleeing and Trajan annexing the area. The emperor then proceeded to the Persian Gulf. However, difficulties emerged. The northern Mesopotamian cities began to revolt, and a Parthian army appeared in the South. Trajan had some success in suppressing the initial rebellions, Northern Mesopotamia was never fully restored. A new revolt then broke out, this time among the Jewish communities of Cyprus and Egypt in opposition to the Hellenistic communities surrounding them. In 116 CE, Jews massacred their Hellenistic neighbors in several areas, even gaining control of the island of Cyprus and killing up to 250,000 people. While turning back to deal with this in 117 CE, Trajan suddenly had a stroke and died.
