Æ15 - Trajan ΝΕΙΚΟΠΟΛΕΩϹ ΕΤ ΛΔ

The year designation ΕΤ ΛΔ — year 34 — anchors this coin to the local era of Nicopolis ad Lycum, a Pontic city refounded by Pompey following his defeat of Mithridates VI in 63 BC. That civic calendar, reset from the moment of Roman reorganization of the region, effectively advertised the city's origins with every dated issue. Under Trajan, whose Dacian campaigns were consuming imperial attention and resources in exactly these years, small provincial bronzes like this one kept local exchange functioning with minimal intervention from Rome.