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Summary Of Pliny's Correspondence With Trajan

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Correspondence with Trajan is a series of communications between the magistrate Pliny the Younger and the Roman emperor Trajan. Being a magistrate Pliny was an elected official of Rome and based on these communications it seems like he had the duty of observing Roman cities and events happening in them, and reporting to the emperor in case there was anything he needed to address. By studying these communications, one can gain insight into Rome’s administration. There are multiple parts of Rome’s administration that these communications can help someone understand, the first being the relationship between government officials and the emperor. In his messages, Pliny discusses various events happening in different cities, for example a fire …show more content…

Pliny discusses multiple city projects: the aqueducts in Nicomedia, the theatre and gymnasium in Nicea, a bath in Claudiopolis, and etc.. The fact that all of these arranged projects exist in multiple cities shows that Romans found it important to build upon them and expand the resources that a city has. Pliny brings word of these community works to the emperor and discusses them, trying to get an opinion of each of them. For example, Pliny states that the theatre is not being built with proper quality and asks whether or not Trajan wants the project canceled. The emperor responds by giving Pliny the ability to decide for himself what happens to it, and to let him know what he determines its fate to be. All of this shows the process that magistrates and emperors go through to manage city projects. It is a magistrate’s job to observe the projects and their quality, and to report everything that happens with them to the emperor, which allows the emperor to decide on whether or not these projects should continue. This conversation also displays that Trajan trusts a magistrate enough to have the final say on said projects, which is another example of the relationship between the two roles and the trust a magistrate

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