Who they were
Trajan was Roman emperor from 98 to 117. Born at Italica in Roman Spain, he was the first emperor from outside Italy, a career soldier adopted as heir by the elderly emperor Nerva.
What they did
His Dacian Wars (101–102 and 105–106) conquered Dacia, roughly modern Romania, and the spoils funded Trajan’s Forum and markets in Rome and Trajan’s Column, dedicated in 113, whose spiral reliefs narrate the campaigns. He annexed Arabia in 106, and his Parthian war (113–117) briefly carried Roman arms to the Persian Gulf — the empire’s greatest extent. At home he ran the alimenta, a support scheme for children in Italy, and corresponded famously with Pliny the Younger on provincial government. He died in 117 and was succeeded by Hadrian.
Legacy
The Senate hailed him as optimus princeps, the best of emperors, and later emperors were saluted with the wish that they be luckier than Augustus and better than Trajan. He is counted among the so-called Five Good Emperors, and his column still stands in Rome.