Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
Aureus - Trajan PONT MAX TR POT COS II, Germania
| Issuer | Roman Imperial Mint |
|---|---|
| Year | 98-99 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1 Aureus = 25 Denarii |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Personification of Germania, bare to the waist, seated left upon a pair of oblong Germanic shields, her posture conveying defeat and subjugation. She extends a branch in her right hand as a symbol of supplication, while her left arm rests upon the shields at her side. A Germanic helmet is depicted below, positioned between the shields in the exergual area, reinforcing the military trophy iconography. The scene commemorates Trajan's assumption of the title Germanicus and alludes to Domitian's German campaigns, which Trajan inherited in prestige. The reverse legend is distributed in two lines across the upper and lower field, flanking the central figure in crisp Latin capitals. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | PONT MAX TR POT COS II (Translation: Pontifex Maximus, Tribunicia Potestate, Consul Secundum. High priest, holder of tribunician power, consul for the second time.) |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Issued in the first years of Trajan's reign, this aureus celebrates the German campaigns that had defined his military reputation long before he took the purple. Trajan had served on the Rhine frontier under Domitian and was commanding legions in Lower Germany when Nerva adopted him in 97 AD — the appointment itself driven partly by the need for a credible military man after the Praetorian Guard had effectively coerced Nerva into political submission.
The COS II dating anchors this piece tightly to 98–99, before Trajan's second consulship ended. RIC II 15 is a well-documented type, but aurei from this precise transitional moment — Nerva just dead, Trajan not yet returned to Rome — carry unusual political weight for a gold issue of otherwise modest rarity.