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As an emperor, Trajan's reputation has endured — he is one of the few rulers whose reputation has survived nineteen centuries.

Every new emperor after him was honored by the Senate with the wish felicior Augusto, melior Traiano (" luckier than Augustus and better than Trajan ").

Among medieval Christian theologians, Trajan was considered a virtuous pagan, while the 18th century historian Edward Gibbon popularized the notion of the Five Good Emperors, of which Trajan was the second.