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Æ20 - Trajan ΑΜΙϹΟΥ ΕΛΕΥΘΕΡΑϹ ΕΤ(ΟΥϹ) ΡΚΘ
| Issuer | Amisus (Bithynia and Pontus) |
|---|---|
| Year | 98 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Obverse description | Nike advancing left in flowing robes, holding a victor's wreath in her extended right hand and a palm frond resting on her left shoulder. The figure is rendered in the Hellenistic tradition typical of Pontic civic coinage, with drapery falling in diagonal folds. The Greek legend ΘΕΟΥ ϹΕΒΑϹΤΟΥ ΤΡΑΙΑΝΟΥ appears in the field, associating the imagery with the deified emperor Trajan. The coin's surface shows the characteristic irregular flan and bold relief of hammered provincial bronze coinage. |
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| Reverse script | Greek |
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Amisus held the rare status of a free city within the Roman provincial structure — "ΕΛΕΥΘΕΡΑϹ" on this coin is not decorative; it reflects a genuine administrative privilege preserved from the city's earlier Pontic period and confirmed by successive Roman governors. The civic era date ΡΚΘ (year 129) anchors this issue to the very opening of Trajan's reign, when the new emperor was consolidating relationships with autonomous Greek cities along the Black Sea coast. Amisus had been granted its freedom by Lucullus after the Third Mithridatic War and jealously maintained the right to strike its own bronze on its own calendar.