Sestertius - Hadrian and Trajan DIVVS TRAIAN AVG PARTH PATER SC

Hadrian struck this posthumous issue for Trajan almost immediately after his accession in August 117 AD, a calculated move to legitimize a succession that a significant faction in Rome found suspicious. Trajan died in Cilicia before officially naming Hadrian heir; the adoption documents were widely rumored to be forged by Trajan's widow Plotina, who had long favored Hadrian. Consecrating Trajan with the title DIVVS was Hadrian's most direct answer to that skepticism — binding himself publicly to the deified emperor before the Senate could question the transfer of power.