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Trajan and Egypt TRAJAN AND EGYPT In studying any aspect of the period covering the principate of the emperors Nerva and Trajan, one is continually faced with and seriously handicapped by the scarcity of data concerning this period. It is well-known that literary sources of this period are-for various reasons-lacking 1. Suetonius ends his ,,De Vita Caesarum" abruptly with the life of Domitian, the Scriptores Historiae Augustae only start their biographical descriptions of emperors with Hadrian 2, so that the lives of Nerva and Trajan just fall between the periods dealt with in these works. Tacitus (Historiae I, r: principatum Nervae et imperium Trajani, uberiorem secu­ rioremque materiam, senectuti seposui) has never fulfilled his intention of describing the times of Nerva and Trajan. The first thirteen books of his successor Ammianus Marcellinus have been lost and the remaining part of his works only starts in 353 A.D. There is a description of this period in the works of Dio Cassius, but only in the very faulty excerpt of the Byzantine monk Xiphilinus. Of the works of writers who have dealt with this period of the principate-such as Junius Cordus, Marius Maximus, Fabius Marcellinus, Aurelius Verus and Statius Valens (mentioned in the Historia Augusta; Vita Macrini r; Vita Alex. Severi 48)-no more is usually left than a mere reference or at best some un­ intelligible fragments 3• In other works 4 which do not specifically deal with the description of the principate of Trajan or date from a later period, incidental or brief notes on the activities of this emperor can be found. These notes naturally mainly deal with the more conspicuous feats: the wars in Dacia and Parthia and striking sayings or actions. The result of this is that they offer very little concerning the emperor's attitude towards the provinces in general and towards Egypt in particular. And it is Trajan's attitude towards Egypt which is to be gauged in this paper. Contemporary literary data are, however, not totally lacking. The letters of Pliny the Younger and the Panegyricus on Trajan, which was recited-as was customary in those days-at the beginning of his consulate in roo A.D., have been preserved. The data available from these sources are, however, disappointing. Admittedly, the tenth book of his letters, which contains the correspondence with Trajan gives us infor­ mation concerning daily life in Bithynia, but the subjects dealt with are usually so trivial and of such local interest only that general validity can hardly be attributed to them. 1 Comments on the sources for the history of Trajan's times are given by: L. Cantarelli, Le fonti per la storia dell'imperatore Traiano; R. Paribeni, Optimus Princeps, pp. 5-44 (Paribeni divides the sources very usefully into 4 categories: a) contemporary sources specially dealing with Trajan's history, b) contemporary sources incidentally dealing with Trajan's history, c) later sources specially dealing with Trajan's history and d) later sources incidentally dealing with Trajan's history). The authors who have reported something on Trajan, are listed in C.A .H. vol. XI, p. 886 ff. 2 This is not a matter of chance! The Historia Augusta did start the biographical descriptions of emperors with Hadrian, cf. W. Hartke, Romische Kinderkaiser, p. 326 ff. 3 Cf. C.A .H. vol. XI, p. 886 ff. Hartke, op. cit., p. 324 ff., doubts that these writers ever existed. He speaks of the scriptor Historiae Augustae. 4 Cf. C.A .H. vol. XI, p. 886 ff. TRAJAN AND EGYPT 107 These letters in fact offer nothing of interest for the purpose of this study. The Panegyricus should not be looked upon as a historical source which it is indeed not intended to be, but must be considered a gratiarum actio (Paneg. 1). The other sources from which historical data are usually derived, have one thing in common with the literary sources, viz.: a lack of data; both for the history of the empire in general and for a better understanding of the conditions in the Egypt of that time and of the attitude of the government in particular these sources offer very little 5. None of the coins of this period 6 of fer us a clearer view of the history of Egypt in this period, although some of the legends on these coins clarify many aspects of the history of the empire during the reign of Trajan. The inscriptions are generally only insignificant titles, dates and dedications 7 • More detailed data can only rarely be deduced from them. Occasionally this is the case with Egypt, as can be seen below. The papyri and the ostraca which one thinks of most readily in connection with Egypt, show an equally unfavourable picture in this context. In several papyri a dating according to Trajan is found and the titles given in the course of time can be found in them, but only occasionally something is recorded about the state of the country in the years between 98 and n7 A.D. s. Nowhere does it appear from the sources that Trajan has ever been in Egypt. This in contrast to his successor who was the founder of one of the few towns 9 • In going over the life-history of Trajan-in so far as this is possible with the scarcity of facts recorded or handed down-one notes that there was indeed very little chance for him to visit Egypt. For he was either in Rome or somewhere else in the empire where his presence was more urgently needed 10. With the notable exception of the insurrection of the Jews 11 which A list of the sources which give data on Egypt during Trajan's reign, can be found in J. G. Milne, A History of Egypt under Roman Rule, p. 48/9. 8 Cf. P. L. Strack, Untersuchungen zur romischen Reichspragung des zweiten ]ahrhunderts; Teil I: Die Reichspragung zur Zeit des Traians. Compare also the review of this work by M. Durry in Revue historique CLXIX (1932), fasc. II, Le regne de Trajan d'apres des monnaies, pp. 316-327. The Catalogue of Greek Coins (1892) mentions only 211 coins of Trajan's reign from Alexandria and the names. 7 Sometimes it is even impossible to make out the date of the inscriptions, neither can we always make out the reign of the emperor during which the inscriptions were written, cf. S. Sauneron, Trajan ou Domitien? Bulletin de l' I nstitut franfais d'A rcheologie orientate 53 ( 1953), pp. 49-52. 8 The papyri give us some information about the other parts of the empire, cf. CL Preaux, Une source nouvelle sur l'annexion de /'Arabie par Trajan: Les papyrus Michigan 465 et 466, Phoibos 5 (1950/ 51), pp. 123-139; R. Vulpe, Muntenia si Moldova de jos in timpul lui Traian in lumina unei noi lecturi a papirului Hunt, Studii Clasice 2 (1960), pp. 337-357. 9 Cf. B. A. van Groningen, Preparatives to Hadrian's Visit to Egypt, Studi in onore di A. Calderini e R. Paribeni, vol. II, p. 253 ff. Hadrian stayed in Egypt from 128 till 130 or 131 A.D., cf. W. Weber, Untersuchungen zur Geschichte Hadrians, p. 257. Cf. concerning the town founded by Hadrian E. Breccia, Il viaggio dell'imperatore Adriano in Egitto e cio che resta della citta di Antinoo, Atti del IV congresso nazionale di Studi Romani, vol. I (1938), pp. 119-124. 10 The most extensive studies on Trajan's history are still: C. de la Berge, Essai sur le regne de Trajan; R. Paribeni, Optimus Princeps: saggio sulla storia e sui tempi dell'imperatore Traiano; B. W. Henderson, Five Roman Emperors. 11 Cf. A. Fuks, The Jewish Revolt in Egypt (A.D. IIS-II7) in the Light of the Papyri, Aegyptus .
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