Marcus Ulpius Traianus (father of Trajan)

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Wikidata image Marcus Ulpius Traianus (Template:Flourished 1st century AD) was a Roman general and senator. He was the biological father of emperor Trajan.

Family

Traianus belonged to a branch of the gens Ulpia, which originally came from the Umbrian city of Tuder, but he was born and raised in the Roman colony of Italica, north of modern Santiponce and northwest of Seville, in the Roman Province of Hispania Baetica.Template:Sfn The town was founded in 206 BC by Scipio Africanus, as a settlement for wounded and invalid veterans of the wars against Carthage.Template:Sfn The Ulpii, like the Aelii and the Traii, were among the leading Roman families of the city.Template:Sfn From the latter family came the ancestors of Traianus, who intermarried with the Ulpii, giving rise to the cognomen Traianus.Template:Sfn Since the father of Traianus joined the ranks of the senators in Rome, it is very likely that his grandfather was already a member of the Roman Senate.Template:Sfn The ancestry of Traianus' mother is unknown. His sister Ulpia was the mother of Publius Aelius Hadrianus Afer, and grandmother of the emperor Hadrian. Traianus married a Roman noblewoman named Marcia.Template:Sfn She was the elder sister of Marcia Furnilla, the second wife of Titus, which enabled her to further her husband's career.Template:Sfn They had two children: a daughter, Ulpia Marciana, and a son, Marcus, the future emperor Trajan.Template:Sfn

Career

The chronology of Traianus' career is uncertain. He may have taken his seat in the senate by the reign of Claudius.Template:Sfn In the time of Nero, he may have commanded a legion under the general Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo; during the First Jewish–Roman War, from AD 67 to 68, he came into favour with the future emperor Vespasian, then governor of Judaea, under whom he commanded the Tenth Legion. After his accession to the Empire, Vespasian recognized Traianus' military successes by awarding him the governorship of Cappadocia, and naming him consul suffectus for the months of September and October in AD 72.Template:Efn After his consulship, Trajan served as governor of Syria from AD 73 to 74, then proconsul of Asia from AD 79 to 80. He was also governor of Hispania Baetica, but the time of this appointment is unknown.

Legacy

File:TRAIANUS PATER RIC II 764-711445 2.jpg

Reverse of Roman aureus struck under Trajan, AD 115, commemorating the elder Traianus after his deification.

Traianus lived out his final years in honor and distinction. Indirect evidence suggests that he may have died before his son became emperor in AD 98.Template:Sfn In AD 100, his son founded a colony in North Africa, named Colonia Marciana Ulpia Trajana Thamugadi after his mother and father; today the town is known as Timgad, in Algeria. In AD 112, Traianus was deified by his son, becoming known as Divus Traianus Pater.

See also

• Ulpia gens