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Primary sourceArtifact109 AD

Via Traiana

109 AD

A Roman road built by Trajan from Beneventum to Brundisium, paid for at his own expense.

Trajan commissioned and personally funded this road, a lasting mark of his building program.

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A long stretch of ancient paved road made of large pale stone slabs, with worn ruts running down the center. Low stone block walls with a stone block lying at the right edge. Dry grass and scrubby vegetation and distant trees are visible beyond.
Via Traiana near Egnatia, Apulia, Italy, built 109 AD.

About this source

What it is

The Via Traiana was a road built in 109 AD under Emperor Trajan, running from Beneventum to Brundisium in southern Italy. It was a branch of the older Via Appia, built at the emperor's personal expense.

Why it matters

Roads were essential to governing and defending the Roman Empire, moving troops, goods, and officials quickly. That Trajan funded this project himself was recorded on milestones and coins, a sign of how emperors used public works to display generosity and strengthen their reputation.

Look closer

  • What does it tell us that Trajan paid for this road himself, and that this fact was publicly recorded?
  • Why would a road between these two cities have been especially useful to Rome?
  • What can the physical remains of a road, like the wear in the stones, tell us that written records cannot?

This artifact is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Trajan on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Apollodorus of Damascus · 113 AD

Plan drawing of the Imperial Fora in Rome. Labeled features include Trajan's Forum, Trajan's Column, Basilica Ulpia, Temple of Trajan, Libraries, Markets of Trajan, Forum of Augustus, Forum of Nerva, Temple of Peace, Forum of Caesar, and Curia, with a scale bar in metres and feet.Artifact

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Apollodorus of Damascus · c. 100-113 AD

Plain red cloth book cover with fine vertical ribbed texture and a darker spine edge on the left side. No title or text is visible.Speech

Primary source

Panegyricus

Pliny the Younger · c. 100 AD

Front view of the Arch of Trajan in Benevento, a white marble Roman triumphal arch with carved relief panels and a long inscription on the attic, under a clear blue sky. Tourists stand on the paved square at left, and a tour bus and a small rounded shrub are visible on the right.Artifact

Secondary source

Arch of Trajan at Benevento

114-117 AD

Marble head sculpture of a man with short, combed, curled hair over the forehead, a stern brow, a straight nose, and a slight closed-mouth expression. The head rests on a plain base against a brick-colored wall.Sculpture

Primary source

Portrait of Trajan

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