Understanding Power and Post-Truth Politics in the Age of Nerva and Trajan

The key focus of my thesis would therefore be to examine and establish as accurate a picture of the political situation through the 90s AD as Emperor Domitian's rule unravelled, Nerva seized power and Trajan emerged as the heir. By understanding the power dynamics at play (who held commands, over how many men, did they constitute a threat, to whom were they a threat) I hope to demonstrate how Trajan was able to establish himself as the heir to Nerva, ushering in the era of the "adoptive emperors". This will be achieved through careful analysis of epigraphic and diploma evidence, which continue to broaden our understanding as new sources are published, and the numismatic evidence for Nerva and Trajan which has recently been re-collated in two studies but not yet combined with the narrative scholarship.