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Aureus - Trajan S P Q R OPTIMO PRINCIPI
| Issuer | Roman Empire (27 BC - 395 AD) |
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| Year | 103-111 |
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| Currency | Denarius, Reform of Augustus (27 BC – AD 215) |
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| Obverse description | Laureate bust of Emperor Trajan facing right, draped at the shoulder with an aegis, rendered in high relief with characteristic fine portraiture. The emperor's strong, mature features are delineated with precise classical artistry, the laurel wreath encircling his head as a symbol of imperial authority. The encircling legend runs along the coin's beaded border, filling the field around the effigy. The portrait displays the hallmark naturalistic style associated with Trajanic coinage struck at the Rome mint. |
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| Obverse script | Latin |
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| Additional information |
The legend OPTIMO PRINCIPI — "to the best ruler" — was not a standard imperial honorific but a specific title voted to Trajan by the Senate in 114 AD, though it appears on coinage well before that formal grant, suggesting the title was in informal use during the Dacian war years. The S P Q R prefix, invoking the Senate and Roman People as the dedicating authority, was a deliberate archaism meant to echo Republican tradition at a moment when Trajan was consolidating military prestige through two brutal Dacian campaigns that ended in 106 AD with the destruction of Sarmizegetusa.
RIC II 209 falls within the issue associated with Trajan's extensive building program, financed directly by Dacian gold and silver looted after the campaigns — treasure Dio Cassius estimated at over half a million pounds of gold.