Marcus Ulpius Traianus (senator) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Marcus Ulpius Traianus Maior (c. 30 – before 100) (Latin: Maior, "the elder") was a Roman

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

senator who lived in the 1st century. He was father of the Roman Emperor Trajan

Trajan

Trajan , was Roman Emperor from 98 to 117 AD. Born into a non-patrician family in the province of Hispania Baetica, in Spain Trajan rose to prominence during the reign of emperor Domitian. Serving as a legatus legionis in Hispania Tarraconensis, in Spain, in 89 Trajan supported the emperor against...

Family

Traianus was a member of gens Ulpia
Ulpia (gens)
The gens Ulpia was a Roman family, which rose to prominence during the 1st century AD The gens is best known from the emperor Marcus Ulpius Trajanus, who reigned from AD 98 to 117. The Thirtieth Legion took its name, Ulpia, in his honor....

. He was born in Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

into a Roman family of Italian stock. His mother is unknown; however, his paternal ancestors moved from Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

and settled in Italica

Italica

The city of Italica was founded in 206 BC by the Roman general Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus in order to settle Roman soldiers wounded in the Battle of Ilipa, where the Carthaginian army was defeated during the Second Punic War...

(near modern Seville

Seville

Seville is the artistic, historic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level...

, Spain

Spain

) in the Roman Province of Hispania Baetica

Hispania Baetica

Hispania Baetica was one of three Imperial Roman provinces in Hispania, . Hispania Baetica was bordered to the west by Lusitania, and to the northeast by Hispania Tarraconensis. Baetica was part of Al-Andalus under the Moors in the 8th century and approximately corresponds to modern Andalucia...

. His sister was called Ulpia

Ulpia (grandmother of Hadrian)

Ulpia was a noble Spanish Roman woman who lived in the Roman Empire during the 1st century CE. Ulpia was a member of the gens Ulpia....

, who would be the mother of praetor Publius Aelius Hadrianus Afer

Publius Aelius Hadrianus Afer

Publius Aelius Hadrianus Afer was a distinct and wealthy Roman Senator and Soldier who lived in the Roman Empire during the 1st century. Afer was originally from Spain; however, he was of Roman descent. Afer was born and raised in the grandeur city of Italica in the Roman Province of Hispania...

(father of Roman Emperor

Roman Emperor

The Roman emperor was the ruler of the Roman State during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office although at any given time, a given title was associated with the emperor...

Hadrian

Hadrian , was Roman Emperor from 117 to 138. He is best known for building Hadrian's Wall, which marked the northern limit of Roman Britain. In Rome, he re-built the Pantheon and constructed the Temple of Venus and Roma. In addition to being emperor, Hadrian was a humanist and was philhellene in...

). Traianus married a Roman woman called Marcia

Marcia (mother of Trajan)

Marcia was an ancient Roman noblewoman and the mother of the emperor Trajan.-Family:Marcia came from a noble and politically influential family, the plebs gens Marcia , which claimed to be descended from the Roman King Ancus Marcius. Marcia was a daughter of the Roman Senator Quintus Marcius Barea...

. They had two children, a daughter called Ulpia Marciana

Ulpia Marciana

Ulpia Marciana was the beloved elder sister of Roman Emperor Trajan. She was the eldest child born to Roman woman Marcia and the Spanish Roman senator Marcus Ulpius Traianus. Her second name Marciana she inherited from her mother’s paternal ancestors. Her birthplace is unknown.Marciana married...

and a son, the future Roman Emperor Trajan

Trajan

. He was the maternal grandfather to Salonina Matidia

Salonina Matidia

Salonina Matidia was the daughter and only child of Ulpia Marciana and wealthy praetor Gaius Salonius Matidius Patruinus. Her maternal uncle was the Roman emperor Trajan. Trajan had no children and treated her like his daughter...

; a maternal uncle to praetor Publius Aelius Hadrianus Afer

Publius Aelius Hadrianus Afer

and a paternal great-uncle to future Roman Emperor Hadrian

Hadrian

Career

Traianus was the first member of his family to enter the Roman Senate

Roman Senate

The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic, however, it was not an elected body, but one whose members were appointed by the consuls, and later by the censors. After a magistrate served his term in office, it usually was followed with automatic...

. Before 67, Traianus might have commanded a legion under the Roman General Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo

Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo

Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo was a Roman general and a brother-in-law of the emperor Caligula.-Descent:Corbulo was born in Italy into a senatorial family...

. Under Vespasian

Vespasian

Vespasian , was Roman Emperor from 69 AD to 79 AD. Vespasian was the founder of the Flavian dynasty, which ruled the Empire for a quarter century. Vespasian was descended from a family of equestrians, who rose into the senatorial rank under the Emperors of the Julio-Claudian dynasty...

(who was the Roman Governor of Judea

Judea

Judea or Judæa was the name of the mountainous southern part of the historic Land of Israel from the 8th century BCE to the 2nd century CE, when Roman Judea was renamed Syria Palaestina following the Jewish Bar Kokhba revolt.-Etymology:The...

), Traianus commanded the tenth legion legio X Frentensis during the First Jewish–Roman War between 67-68. During this time, he came into favor with the future emperor.

Due to his successes, Vespasian awarded Traianus with the governorship of an unknown Roman province and a consulship in 70. In later years, he served as a Roman Governor of Hispania Baetica

Hispania Baetica

, Syria

Syria

Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....

, in 79 or 80 governed an unknown Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

n province and then western Anatolia

Anatolia

Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...

. During his time in Syria, Traianus prevented a Parthia

Parthia

Parthia is a region of north-eastern Iran, best known for having been the political and cultural base of the Arsacid dynasty, rulers of the Parthian Empire....

n invasion.

Legacy

Traianus lived in his final years in honor and distinction. Indirect evidence suggests that he may have died before his son became emperor in 98

Year 98 was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Augustus and Traianus...

. Around 100, his son Trajan had founded a colony in North Africa

North Africa

North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...

. This colony became a town and was called Colonia Marciana Ulpia Traiana Thamugadi (modern Timgad

Timgad

Timgad , called Thamugas or Tamugadi in old Berber) was a Roman colonial town in the Aures mountain- numidia Algeria founded by the Emperor Trajan around 100 AD. The full name of the town was Colonia Marciana Ulpia Traiana Thamugadi...

, Algeria

Algeria

Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...

). His son named this town in honor 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, Traianus was deified by his son, and his titulature

Aulic titulature

Aulic titulature is a term, derived from the Greek Aulè and Latin Aula for hierarchic systems of titles specifically in use for court protocol.-Hellenistic Antiquity:...

reads divus Traianus pater.

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