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Trajan, emperor of the Roman Empire from AD 98-117, was known as the first of the Five Good Emperors in the 1st and 2nd centuries. "With Trajan's accession began an era of confidence in the greatness of the empire that had not been seen since Augustus." (Ramage) Trajan instituted a building program that evinced characteristics of the Architectural Revolution, as well as classical and deliberately rustic building styles. Apollodorus of Damascus was in charge of the building of most of Trajan's monuments. He constructed the forum experimenting with the elements of the Architectural Revolution. These elements include the use of concrete, emphasis on light, elaborate and colorful decoration, and the use of curvilinear architecture. Like all good emperors, Trajan built a great Forum, the plan of which is under scrutiny by many archaeologists today.
Although there is definite evidence for several buildings within the forum, other buildings which were proposed to exist by James E. Packer among others have since been discovered to be absent or different than previously proposed. The structures that are known to be present are the Basilica Ulpia, named for Trajan's family; the Forum Traiani with a surrounding colonnade; the Column of Trajan, marking Trajan's successful Dacian campaign; and the two flanking libraries, on for Greek texts and one for Latin texts.
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