Trajan, Roman emperor (died 117)

AD 53 (LIII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Silanus and Antoninus. The denomination AD 53 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

Trajan was a Roman emperor from AD 98 to 117, remembered as the second of the Five Good Emperors of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. He was a philanthropic ruler and a successful soldier-emperor who presided over one of the greatest military expansions in Roman history, during which, by the time of his death, the Roman Empire reached its maximum territorial extent. He was given the title of Optimus by the Roman Senate.

September 18 is the 261st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 104 days remain until the end of the year.