Æ19 - Trajan ΝΙΚΟΠΟΛΕωϹ

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.