Denarius - Trajan COS V P P S P Q R OPTIMO PRINC

Trajan received the title Optimus Princeps — "best ruler" — from the Senate around 114 AD, though it appears on coinage somewhat earlier as a form of preemptive flattery during the Dacian War campaigns. The fifth consulship bracketing this issue coincides with the period between the two Dacian Wars, a moment of genuine imperial confidence: Dacia had been defeated once, the column was under construction, and the treasury was filling with Dacian gold and silver that almost certainly found its way directly into the bullion funding these very coins.