Marcus Ulpius Traianus (senior)

Roman aureus struck under Trajan, c. 115 AD. The reverse commemorates both Trajan's natural father, Marcus Ulpius Traianus (right), and his adoptive father, the Deified Nerva (left).

Marcus Ulpius Traianus Maior (c. 30 AD – before 100 AD; Latin: Maior, "the elder") was a Roman senator who lived in the 1st century. He was father to the Roman Emperor Trajan.

Family

Traianus belonged to the gens Ulpia, originating from the Umbrian City of Tuder, and was born and raised in the city of Italica (modern Santiponce, near Seville, Spain) in the Roman Province of Hispania Baetica.[1] The Ulpii lived there from 206 BC, when the town was founded by Publius Cornelius Scipio, resettling wounded and invalid veterans of the wars against Carthage.[1] The Ulpii, like the Aelii and the Traii belonged to the leading Hispano-Roman families of the city.[1] From the latter family came a branch of the ancestors of Traianus, which intermarried with the Ulpii, originating the cognomen Traianus.[1] Since the father of Traianus joined the ranks of the Patricians in Rome, it is very likely that his grandfather had already belonged to the Roman Senate.[1] His mother's origin is unknown. His sister Ulpia would be the mother of praetor Publius Aelius Hadrianus Afer (father of the Emperor Hadrian). Traianus married a Roman noblewoman called Marcia.[2] She was the elder sister of Marcia Furnilla, the second wife of future Emperor Titus, and consequently was in a position to help the career of her husband.[2] They had two children, a daughter called Ulpia Marciana and a son, the future Roman Emperor Trajan.[2] He was the maternal grandfather to Salonina Matidia; a maternal uncle to praetor Publius Aelius Hadrianus Afer and a paternal great-uncle to Hadrian.

Career

Traianus was possibly a senator by the reign of Claudius.[2] Before 67 AD, Traianus might have commanded a legion under the Roman General Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo. Under Vespasian (who was the Roman Governor of Judea), Traianus commanded the Legio X Fretensis during the First Jewish–Roman War between 67-68 AD. During this time he came into favour with the future emperor.

As a result of his military successes, Vespasian awarded Traianus the governorship of an unknown Roman province and a suffect consulship. Paul Gallivan dated M. Ulpius Traianus the Elder to 70 based on his arrangement of the fragments of tablet E of the Fasti Ostienses;[3] however, subsequent recovery of fragments allowed Ladislav Vidman to date Ulpius Traianus' tenure to September-October 72.[4] He was appointed governor of Cappadocia-Galatia (70/71 AD). He then served as governor of Syria in 73/74 AD, followed by a term as proconsul of Roman Asia in 79/80 AD. At an unspecified time he served as Governor of Hispania Baetica.[5] During his time in Syria, Traianus prevented a Parthian invasion.

Legacy

Traianus lived out his final years in honor and distinction. Indirect evidence suggests that he may have died before his son became emperor in 98 AD.[6] Around 100 AD his son Trajan founded a colony in North Africa. This colony became a town and was called Colonia Marciana Ulpia Traiana Thamugadi (modern Timgad, Algeria). His son named this town in honour of him, his late wife and his daughter. The colony’s name is also a tribute to his sister and his paternal ancestors. In 113 AD, Traianus was deified by his son, and his titulature reads divus Traianus pater.

Nerva–Antonine family tree

Nerva–Antonine family tree
Q. Marcius Barea SoranusQ. Marcius Barea SuraAntonia FurnillaM. Cocceius NervaSergia PlautillaP. Aelius Hadrianus
Titus
(r. 79–81)		Marcia FurnillaMarciaTrajanus PaterNerva
(r. 96–98)		Ulpia[lower-roman 1]Aelius Hadrianus Marullinus
Julia Flavia[lower-roman 2]Marciana[lower-roman 3]C. Salonius Matidius[lower-roman 4]Trajan
(r. 98–117)		PlotinaP. Acilius AttianusP. Aelius Afer[lower-roman 5]Paulina Major[lower-roman 6]
Lucius Mindius
(2)		Libo Rupilius Frugi
(3)		Matidia[lower-roman 7]L. Vibius Sabinus
(1)[lower-roman 8]
Paulina Minor[lower-roman 6]L. Julius Ursus Servianus[lower-roman 9]
Matidia Minor[lower-roman 7]Suetonius?[lower-roman 10]Sabina[lower-roman 3]Hadrian[lower-roman 5][lower-roman 11][lower-roman 6] (r. 117–138)Antinous[lower-roman 12]
Julia Balbilla?[lower-roman 13]C. Fuscus Salinator IJulia Serviana Paulina
M. Annius Verus[lower-roman 14]Rupilia Faustina[lower-roman 15]Boionia ProcillaCn. Arrius Antoninus
L. Ceionius CommodusAppia SeveraC. Fuscus Salinator II
L. Caesennius PaetusArria AntoninaArria Fadilla[lower-roman 16]T. Aurelius Fulvus
L. Caesennius AntoninusL. CommodusFundania Plautiaignota[lower-roman 17]C. Avidius Nigrinus
M. Annius Verus[lower-roman 15]Domitia Lucilla[lower-roman 18]Fundania[lower-roman 19]M. Annius Libo[lower-roman 15]FAUSTINA[lower-roman 16]Antoninus Pius
(r. 138–161)[lower-roman 16]		L. Aelius Caesar[lower-roman 17]Avidia Plautia[lower-roman 17]
Cornificia[lower-roman 15]MARCUS AURELIUS
(r. 161–180)[lower-roman 20]		FAUSTINA Minor[lower-roman 20]C. Avidius Cassius[lower-roman 21]Aurelia Fadilla[lower-roman 16]LUCIUS VERUS
(r. 161–169)[lower-roman 17]
(1)		Ceionia Fabia[lower-roman 17]Plautius Quintillus[lower-roman 22]Q. Servilius PudensCeionia Plautia[lower-roman 17]
Cornificia Minor[lower-roman 23]M. Petronius SuraCOMMODUS
(r. 177–192)[lower-roman 20]		Fadilla[lower-roman 23]M. Annius Verus Caesar[lower-roman 20]Ti. Claudius Pompeianus
(2)		Lucilla[lower-roman 20]M. Plautius Quintillus[lower-roman 17]Junius Licinius BalbusServilia Ceionia
Petronius AntoninusL. Aurelius Agaclytus
(2)		Aurelia Sabina[lower-roman 23]L. Antistius Burrus
(1)		Plautius QuintillusPlautia ServillaC. Furius Sabinus TimesitheusAntonia GordianaJunius Licinius Balbus
Furia Sabina TranquillinaGORDIAN III
(r. 238–244)
  • (1) = 1st spouse
  • (2) = 2nd spouse
  • (3) = 3rd spouse
  •   Reddish purple indicates emperor of the Nerva-Antonine dynasty

      lighter purple indicates designated imperial heir of said dynasty who never reigned

      grey indicates unsuccessful imperial aspirants

      bluish purple indicates emperors of other dynasties
  • dashed lines indicate adoption; dotted lines indicate love affairs/unmarried relationships
  • small caps = posthumously deified (Augusti, Augustae, or other)
Notes:

Except where otherwise noted, the notes below indicate that an individual's parentage is as shown in the above family tree.

  1. ↑ Sister of Trajan's father: Giacosa (1977), p. 7.
  2. ↑ Giacosa (1977), p. 8.
  3. 1 2 Levick (2014), p. 161.
  4. ↑ Husband of Ulpia Marciana: Levick (2014), p. 161.
  5. 1 2 Giacosa (1977), p. 7.
  6. 1 2 3 DIR contributor (Herbert W. Benario, 2000), "Hadrian".
  7. 1 2 Giacosa (1977), p. 9.
  8. ↑ Husband of Salonia Matidia: Levick (2014), p. 161.
  9. ↑ Smith (1870), "Julius Servianus".
  10. ↑ Suetonius a possible lover of Sabina: One interpretation of HA Hadrianus 11:3
  11. ↑ Smith (1870), "Hadrian", pp. 319–322.
  12. ↑ Lover of Hadrian: Lambert (1984), p. 99 and passim; deification: Lamber (1984), pp. 2-5, etc.
  13. ↑ Julia Balbilla a possible lover of Sabina: A. R. Birley (1997), Hadrian, the Restless Emperor, p. 251, cited in Levick (2014), p. 30, who is sceptical of this suggestion.
  14. ↑ Husband of Rupilia Faustina: Levick (2014), p. 163.
  15. 1 2 3 4 Levick (2014), p. 163.
  16. 1 2 3 4 Levick (2014), p. 162.
  17. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Levick (2014), p. 164.
  18. ↑ Wife of M. Annius Verus: Giacosa (1977), p. 10.
  19. ↑ Wife of M. Annius Libo: Levick (2014), p. 163.
  20. 1 2 3 4 5 Giacosa (1977), p. 10.
  21. ↑ The epitomator of Cassius Dio (72.22) gives the story that Faustina the Elder promised to marry Avidius Cassius. This is also echoed in HA "Marcus Aurelius" 24.
  22. ↑ Husband of Ceionia Fabia: Levick (2014), p. 164.
  23. 1 2 3 Levick (2014), p. 117.
References:

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Strobel, Karl (2010). Kaiser Traian (in German). Regensburg: Friedrich Pustet. p. 40. ISBN 9783791721729.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Strobel, Karl (2010). Kaiser Traian (in German). Regensburg: Friedrich Pustet. p. 41. ISBN 9783791721729.
  3. ↑ Gallivan, "The Fasti for A. D. 70-96", Classical Quarterly, 31 (1981), p. 187
  4. ↑ Ladislaus Vidman, ed., Fasti Ostienses, Second edition (Prague: Academia, 1982), pp. 73-75
  5. ↑ Werner Eck, "Jahres- und Provinzialfasten der senatorischen Statthalter von 69/70 bis 138/139", Chiron, 12 (1982), pp. 281-362
  6. ↑ Bennett (1997), p. 20

References

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