Æ22 - Trajan ΟΜΟΝΟΙΑ ϹΕΒΑϹΤΗ

The ΟΜΟΝΟΙΑ ϹΕΒΑϹΤΗ ("Augustan Concord") reverse type on Bithynian koinon bronzes reflects the province's carefully managed relationship with Rome — Bithynia and Pontus had passed to Roman control by bequest of Nicomedes IV in 74 BC, and its cities competed aggressively for honorific titles and the privilege of issuing coinage in the emperor's name. Under Trajan, that competition intensified, partly because his Dacian and Parthian campaigns made imperial favor a genuinely valuable political commodity. Pliny the Younger served as Trajan's special legate in the province around 111–113 AD, his letters to the emperor documenting just how fractious inter-city rivalries had become.