Roman Emperor. He was born in 53 AD near Seville, and was the first Emperor of non-Italian origin. As a young man he served as military tribune in Syria and was soon promoted to commander of the seventh legion "Gemina" in northern Spain. He was made praetor by Domitian in 85 AD and consul in 91 AD. When Nerva succeeded as Emperor in 96 AD he was appointed governor of Upper Germany, and was formally adopted as his son and heir a year later. When Nerva died in 98 AD he felt secure enough in his position as successor to embark on a tour of the Rhine and Danube frontiers, before entering Rome as Emperor in 99 AD. He soon gained a reputation for good government, also restoring the road system and building new bridges across rivers and streams. He was an enthusiastic soldier and was popular with the army. He fought two major wars against Dacia, a kingdom in modern Romania, annexing territory north of the Lower Danube in 101 AD, for which he celebrated a triumph and was awarded the title "Dacicus" by the senate. In 105 AD he fought the Dacians again, inflicting a crushing defeat and bringing the entire kingdom of Dacia into the Empire. The Dacian wars are celebrated in the relief carvings on Trajan's Column, a pillar erected in his honour by the senate. On returning to Rome he celebrated another triumph and built a new harbour at Ostia, and also the Forum of Trajan. From 114 until the end of his reign he fought campaigns against the Parthians in the East, making Mesopotamia a Roman province. Rebellions against the occupation soon followed, and he was forced to withdraw. As his health began to fail revolts also broke out among the Jews of Cyrenaica, Egypt and Cyprus. In 117 AD he suffered a fatal stroke, he was cremated in Rome and his ashes were placed in a golden urn in the base of Trajan's Column.