Marcus Ulpius Traianus (father of Trajan)

Marcus Ulpius Traianus
Bust at the National Museum of Serbia, Belgrade, usually identified as Trajan's father. It may instead depict Trajan himself.^[1]
Born	Italica
Died	before AD 98
Spouse	Marcia
Issue	Trajan and Ulpia Marciana

Marcus Ulpius Traianus (fl. 1st century) was a Roman senator and the father of Emperor Trajan.

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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.^[2] The town was founded in 206 BC by Scipio Africanus, as a settlement for wounded and invalid veterans of the wars against Carthage.^[2] The Ulpii, like the Aelii and the Traii, were among the leading Roman families of the city.^[2] From the latter family came the ancestors of Traianus, who intermarried with the Ulpii, giving rise to the cognomen Traianus.^[2] 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.^[2] 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.^[3] She was the elder sister of Marcia Furnilla, the second wife of Titus, which enabled her to further her husband's career.^[3] They had two children: a daughter, Ulpia Marciana, and a son, Marcus, the future emperor Trajan.^[3]

Career

The chronology of Traianus' career is uncertain. He may have taken his seat in the senate by the reign of Claudius.^[3] 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.^[a] After his consulship, Trajan served as governor of Syria from 73 to 74, then proconsul of Asia from 79 to 80. He was also governor of Hispania Baetica, but the time of this appointment is unknown.^[6]

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 AD 98.^[7] 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.^[8] In 112, Traianus was deified by his son, becoming known as Divus Traianus Pater.^[9]

Nerva–Antonine family tree

Q. Marcius Barea Soranus

Q. Marcius Barea Sura

Antonia Furnilla

M. Cocceius Nerva

Sergia Plautilla

P. Aelius Hadrianus

Titus
(r. 79–81)

Marcia Furnilla

Marcia

Trajanus Pater

Nerva
(r. 96–98)

Ulpia^[i]

Aelius Hadrianus Marullinus

Flavia^[ii]

Marciana^[iii]

C. Salonius Matidius^[iv]

Trajan
(r. 98–117)

Paulina Major^[vi]

Libo Rupilius Frugi (3)

Salonia Matidia^[vii]

L. Vibius Sabinus (1)^[viii]

Paulina Minor^[vi]

L. Julius Ursus Servianus^[ix]

Matidia Minor^[vii]

Suetonius?^[x]

Sabina^[iii]

Hadrian^[v]^[xi]^[vi] (r. 117–138)

Antinous^[xii]

Julia Balbilla?^[xiii]

C. Fuscus Salinator I

Julia Serviana Paulina

M. Annius Verus^[xiv]

Rupilia Faustina^[xv]^[xvi]

Boionia Procilla

Cn. Arrius Antoninus

L. Ceionius Commodus

Appia Severa

C. Fuscus Salinator II

L. Caesennius Paetus

Arria Antonina

Arria Fadilla^[xvii]

T. Aurelius Fulvus

L. Caesennius Antoninus

L. Commodus

Plautia

unknown^[xviii]

C. Avidius Nigrinus

M. Annius Verus^[xv]

Calvisia Domitia Lucilla^[xix]

Fundania^[xx]

M. Annius Libo^[xv]

Faustina^[xvii]

Antoninus Pius
(r. 138–161)^[xvii]

L. Aelius Caesar^[xviii]

Avidia^[xviii]

Cornificia^[xv]

Marcus Aurelius
(r. 161–180)^[xxi]

Faustina Minor^[xxi]

C. Avidius Cassius^[xxii]

Aurelia Fadilla^[xvii]

Lucius Verus
(r. 161–169)^[xviii] (1)

Ceionia Fabia^[xviii]

Plautius Quintillus^[xxiii]

Q. Servilius Pudens

Ceionia Plautia^[xviii]

Cornificia Minor^[xxiv]

M. Petronius Sura

Commodus
(r. 177–192)^[xxi]

Fadilla^[xxiv]

M. Annius Verus Caesar^[xxi]

Ti. Claudius Pompeianus (2)

Lucilla^[xxi]

M. Plautius Quintillus^[xviii]

Junius Licinius Balbus

Servilia Ceionia

Petronius Antoninus

L. Aurelius Agaclytus (2)

Aurelia Sabina^[xxiv]

L. Antistius Burrus (1)

Plautius Quintillus

Plautia Servilla

C. Furius Sabinus Timesitheus

Antonia Gordiana

Junius Licinius Balbus?

Furia Sabina Tranquillina

Gordian 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.

^ Sister of Trajan's father: Giacosa (1977), p. 7.
^ Giacosa (1977), p. 8.
^ ^a ^b Levick (2014), p. 161.
^ Husband of Ulpia Marciana: Levick (2014), p. 161.
^ ^a ^b Giacosa (1977), p. 7.
^ ^a ^b ^c DIR contributor (Herbert W. Benario, 2000), "Hadrian".
^ ^a ^b Giacosa (1977), p. 9.
^ Husband of Salonia Matidia: Levick (2014), p. 161.
^ Smith (1870), "Julius Servianus".
^ Suetonius a possible lover of Sabina: One interpretation of HA Hadrianus 11:3
^ Smith (1870), "Hadrian", pp. 319–322.
^ Lover of Hadrian: Lambert (1984), p. 99 and passim; deification: Lamber (1984), pp. 2–5, etc.
^ 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.
^ Husband of Rupilia Faustina: Levick (2014), p. 163.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Levick (2014), p. 163.
^ It is uncertain whether Rupilia Faustina was Frugi's daughter by Salonia Matidia or another woman.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Levick (2014), p. 162.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Levick (2014), p. 164.
^ Wife of M. Annius Verus: Giacosa (1977), p. 10.
^ Wife of M. Annius Libo: Levick (2014), p. 163.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Giacosa (1977), p. 10.
^ 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.
^ Husband of Ceionia Fabia: Levick (2014), p. 164.
^ ^a ^b ^c Levick (2014), p. 117.

References:

DIR contributors (2000). "De Imperatoribus Romanis: An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Rulers and Their Families". Retrieved 14 April 2015.
Giacosa, Giorgio (1977). Women of the Caesars: Their Lives and Portraits on Coins. Translated by R. Ross Holloway. Milan: Edizioni Arte e Moneta. ISBN 0-8390-0193-2.
Lambert, Royston (1984). Beloved and God: The Story of Hadrian and Antinous. New York: Viking. ISBN 0-670-15708-2.
Levick, Barbara (2014). Faustina I and II: Imperial Women of the Golden Age. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-537941-9.
Smith, William, ed. (1870). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

Notes

^ Gallivan dated Trajan's consulship to AD 70, based on his arrangement of the fragments of tablet 'E' of the Fasti Ostienses;^[4] however, subsequent recovery of fragments allowed Vidman to date his tenure to the months of September and October of 72.^[5]

References

Citations

^ Ratkovic, Deana (2015). "New Attribution of a Roman Bronze Portrait from Pontes (Iron Gate Limes)". New Research on Ancient Bronzes. 10: 113–116.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Strobel 2010, p. 40.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Strobel 2010, p. 41.
^ Gallivan 1981, p. 187.
^ Vidman, Ladislav (1982). Fasti Ostienses (in Latin). Prague: Academia. pp. 73–75. OCLC 220156633.
^ Eck, Werner (1982). "Jahres- und Provinzialfasten der senatorischen Statthalter von 69/70 bis 138/139". Chiron: Mitteilungen der Kommission für Alte Geschichte und Epigraphik des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts (12): 281–362. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
^ Bennett 1997, p. 20.
^ Hitchner, R. Bruce (2022). A Companion to North Africa in Antiquity. John Wiley & Sons. p. 183. ISBN 978-1-4443-5001-2.
^ Boatwright, Mary T. (2021). Hadrian and the City of Rome. Princeton University Press. p. 88. ISBN 978-0-691-22402-2.

Works cited

Bennett, Julian (1997). Trajan: Optimus Princeps : a Life and Times. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-16524-2. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
Gallivan, Paul (1981). "The Fasti for A.D. 70–96*". The Classical Quarterly. 31 (1): 186–220. doi:10.1017/S0009838800021194. ISSN 1471-6844. S2CID 171027163. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
Strobel, Karl (2010). Kaiser Traian: eine Epoche der Weltgeschichte (in German). Friedrich Pustet. ISBN 978-3-7917-2172-9. Retrieved 26 March 2020.

General sources

"Roman Emperors - DIR Trajan". Roman Emperors. Retrieved 26 March 2020.

This page was last edited on 17 December 2023, at 02:25

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