Stone tablet depicting fighting inTrajan's Dacian Wars (101–106). After the conquest in 106, Dacia's richgold mines were secured which then contributed around 700 million Denarii per annum to the Roman economy.
The100s was a decade that ran from January 1, AD 100, to December 31, AD 109.
During this period, theRoman Empire continued to expand its territory. EmperorTrajan, who ruled from 98 to 117 AD, launched several successful military campaigns, including theDacian wars (101–106) and thepossibly violent conquest ofNabataea (106).The conquest ofDacia in 106 secured its richgold mines, and it is estimated that Dacia then contributed 700 million Denarii per annum to the Roman economy, providing finance for Rome's future campaigns and assisting with the rapid expansion of Roman towns throughout Europe.[1]: 8 Furthermore, the conquest changed the balance of power in the region, leading to a renewed anti-Roman alliance of local Germanic and Celtic tribes. However, within the annexed territory and surrounds, the material advantages of being part of the Roman system were not lost on the majority of the surviving Dacian aristocracy. Thus began the process by which most modern Romanian historians and linguists believe that many of the Dacians subsequently became romanized (seeOrigin of Romanians).Alimenta, a Roman welfare program that had been initiated byNerva in 98, continued to be in operation during this decade.
In East Asia, theHan dynasty saw a succession of rulers:Emperor He was succeeded byEmperor Shang in 106, who was succeeded byEmperor An that same year. However, the young emperor An did not rule in his own right, withDeng Sui instead being regent from 106 onwards. Deng Sui showed herself to be an able regent who did not tolerate corruption, even by her own family members. She also carried out criminal law reforms. For example, in 107, she issued an edict that extended the period for death penalty appeals. She cut the expenses of the royal court, like the making of expensive handicrafts such asjade andivory carvings and sent home palace attendants with superfluous functions. She also demanded less tribute from the provinces.[2] While Empress, she twice opened the imperial granaries to feed the hungry; forced the reduction of income landlords received from the land they rented out; she repaired waterways and cut court rituals and banquets.[3] She also saw rebellions from the SouthXiongnu andQiang, the latter of which would not be quelled until the next decade. In West Asia,Parthia saw a revolt byOsroes I againstPacorus II in 109. South America saw the emergence of theMoche culture.
Emperor Trajan corresponded withPliny the Younger on the subject of how to deal with the Christians ofPontus. The theologianEdward Burton wrote that this correspondence shows there were no laws condemning Christians at that time. There was an "abundance of precedent (common law) for suppressing foreign superstitions" but no general law which prescribed "the form of trial or the punishment; nor had there been any special enactment which made Christianity a crime".[4] Even so, Pliny implies that putting Christians on trial was not rare, and while Christians in his district had committed no illegal acts like robbery or adultery, Pliny "put persons to death, though they were guilty of no crime, and without the authority of any law" and believed his emperor would accept his actions.[4] Trajan did, and sent back a qualified approval. He toldPliny to continue to prosecute Christians, but not to accept anonymous denunciations in the interests of justice as well as of "the spirit of the age". Non-citizens who admitted to being Christians and refused to recant, however, were to be executed "for obstinacy". Citizens were sent to Rome for trial.[5]Mithraism, aRomanmystery religion viewed as a rival ofearly Christianity, had developed by this time.[6](p 147)
Pacorus II of Parthia dies after a 27-year reign, in which he has reclaimed all of his empire. His successorVologases III reigns until 147 AD, suppressing brief rebellions, as he battles against theKushan andAlani.
EmperorHe Di dies after a 17-year reign in which courteunuchs and the emperor's in-laws have regained influence. EmpressDeng Sui places her sonShang Di (barely 3 months old) on thethrone, as the fifthemperor of the Chinese EasternHan dynasty.
Last year (17th) ofyongyuan era and start ofyuanxing era of the Chinese Eastern Han dynasty.[clarification needed]
Papermaking is refined by the Chinese eunuchCai Lun, who receives official praise from the emperor for his methods of making paper from tree bark,hemp, remnantrags andfish nets. Paper had been made inChina from the2nd century BC, but Cai Lun's paper provides a writing surface far superior to puresilk and is much less costly to produce.Bamboo and wooden slips will remain the usual materials forbooks andscrolls in most of the world for another 200 years, and paper will remain a Chinese secret for 500 years.
TheTrajan Bridge is finished. For more than a thousand years, it is the longest arch bridge in the world to have been built, in terms of both total and span length.[23]
Ignatius writes a letter toChristians inSmyrna, using the termCatholic Church (approximate date). This is the earliest surviving witness to the use of the term "Catholic Church".
February 13 – EmperorHe of Han dies after a 18-year reign. Empress DowagerDeng places her infant sonHan Shangdi on the Chinese throne. First and the only year ofyanping era.
September 21 – Han Shangdi dies after a 7-month reign and is succeeded by his 12-year-old cousinHan Andi as ruler of the Chinese EasternHan dynasty (until125).
^Monro, Alexander,The Paper Trail: An Unexpected History of a Revolutionary Invention (Vintage Books, 2017)
^abBurton, Edward (1885).Lectures Upon the Ecclesiastical History of the First Three Centuries From the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ to the Year 313. University of Chicago. p. 324.
^Quoted by Andrea Giardina, ed.The Romans. University of Chicago Press, 1993,ISBN0-226-29049-2, page 272
^Humphrey, John H. (1986).Roman Circuses: Arenas for Chariot Racing. University of California Press.ISBN978-0-520-04921-5. pp. 80, 102-103, 126-129. The images of the gods were brought from their temples to be laid on dining couches with great ceremony, so that they too could watch the spectacle.
^Birley,Fasti, p. 86. In a note on that page, Birley quotesRonald Syme's observation on that period of the Roman Empire, "there was some danger of gerontocracy."
^LeGlay, Marcel; Voisin, Jean-Louis; Le Bohec, Yann (2001).A History of Rome (Second ed.). Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell. p. 271.ISBN0-631-21858-0.
^Robert H. Allen,The Classical Origins of Modern Homophobia, Jefferson: Mcfarland, 2006,ISBN978-0-7864-2349-1, p.120
^Guggisberg, C. A. W. (1975). "LionPanthera leo (Linnaeus, 1758)".Wild Cats of the World. New York: Taplinger Publishing. pp. 138–179.ISBN978-0-8008-8324-9.
^Cowgill, George (October 1997). "State and Society at Teotihuacan, Mexico".Annual Review of Anthropology.26:129–161.doi:10.1146/annurev.anthro.26.1.129.
^Bawden, G. (2004). "The Art of Moche Politics". In Silverman, H. (ed.).Andean Archaeology. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.
^abcdeLeGlay, Marcel; Voisin, Jean-Louis; Le Bohec, Yann (2001).A History of Rome (Second ed.). Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell. p. 271.ISBN0-631-21858-0.
^"De Imperatoribus Romanis".An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Emperors. Retrieved8 November 2007.Because the Dacians represented an obstacle against Roman expansion in the east, in the year 101 the emperor Trajan decided to begin a new campaign against them. The first war began on 25 March 101 and the Roman troops, consisting of four principal legions (X Gemina, XI Claudia, II Traiana Fortis, and XXX Ulpia Victrix), defeated the Dacians.
^"Battle of Sarmizegetusa (Sarmizegetuza), A.D. 105: De Imperatoribus Romanis".An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Emperors. Retrieved8 November 2007.Although the Dacians had been defeated, the emperor postponed the final siege for the conquering of Sarmizegetuza because his armies needed reorganization. Trajan imposed on the Dacians very hard peace conditions:Decebalus had to renounce claim to part of his kingdom, including the Banat, Tara Hategului, Oltenia, and Muntenia in the area south-west of Transylvania. He had also to surrender all the Roman deserters and all his war machines. At Rome, Trajan was received as a winner and he took the name of Dacicus, a title that appears on his coinage of this period. At the beginning of the year 103 A.D., there were minted coins with the inscription: IMP NERVA TRAIANVS AVG GER DACICVS.
^Jackson, Nicholas (2022). "First Dacian War".Trajan: Rome's Last Conqueror (1st ed.). UK: GreenHill Books.ISBN978-1784387075.
^In terms of overall length, the bridge seems to have been surpassed by another Roman bridge across the Danube,Constantine's Bridge, a little-known structure whose length is given with 2437 m (Tudor 1974, p. 139;Galliazzo 1994, p. 319).
^abcLeGlay, Marcel; Voisin, Jean-Louis; Le Bohec, Yann (2001).A History of Rome (2nd ed.). Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell. p. 271.ISBN0-631-21858-0.
Tudor, D. (1974), "Le pont de Constantin le Grand à Celei",Les ponts romains du Bas-Danube, Bibliotheca Historica Romaniae Études, vol. 51, Bucharest: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, pp. 135–166
