Denarius - Trajan S P Q R OPTIMO PRINCIPI, Aequitas

Trajan's "Optimus Princeps" title — formally voted by the Senate, not self-styled — reflects a calculated political relationship between emperor and senate that was genuinely unusual for the period. The SPQR prefix on the legend technically attributes the coin's issue to the Senate and People of Rome, a deliberate constitutional fiction that Trajan cultivated more consistently than almost any of his predecessors.

RIC II 171 falls within the prolific third emission, produced during or immediately after the Dacian Wars, when the treasury was being refilled with Dacian gold and silver — Trajan's campaigns reportedly yielded enough bullion to fund a public largesse of 650 denarii per Roman citizen.