Nicopolis ad Istrum and Nicopolis in Epirus are the cities most collectors reach for first, but this coin comes from the Achaean foundation — the city Augustus established in 31 BC on the site of his camp before the Battle of Actium. The right to strike bronze under Trajan was a civic privilege, not a given, and Nicopolis leveraged its Augustan foundation myth aggressively to maintain it.
Nicopolis ad Istrum and Nicopolis in Epirus are the cities most collectors reach for first, but this coin comes from the Achaean foundation — the city Augustus established in 31 BC on the site of his camp before the Battle of Actium. The right to strike bronze under Trajan was a civic privilege, not a given, and Nicopolis leveraged its Augustan foundation myth aggressively to maintain it.