Nerva and Trajan (ruled 96 – 98 AD, 98 – 117 AD) were not born to rule, but were chosen for the job. The results were remarkably successful. Nerva became emperor immediately after Domitian’s ...

The victory of the Roman emperor Trajan over the Dacians in back-to-back wars is carved in numerous scenes that spiral around a 126-foot marble pillar in Rome known as Trajan’s Column.

In 110 AD, Trajan sent Pliny to Bithynia (part of present-day Turkey) to investigate corruption there. He appears to have died a few years later. His lasting fame, however, comes from the nine ...