The Fall of Singara

Sale: CNG 79, Lot: 1098. Estimate $5000.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 17 September 2008.  Sold For $10100. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Trajan. AD 98-117. Æ Sestertius (23.51 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck AD 115. Laureate and draped bust right / IMPERATOR VIII in exergue, Trajan seated right on platform, placed on left, accompanied by two officers, addressing soldiers. RIC II 658; Banti 80. EF, green-brown patina, lightly smoothed, details slightly enhanced.

Ex Gorny & Mosch 138 (7 March 2005), lot 234 (sold for €10500).

Trajan extended the Empire's borders to their greatest limit. After two major campaigns (101-103 and 105-106 AD), he incorporated Dacia as a Roman province. In 114, in consequence of the installation of a Parthian puppet on the throne of Armenia, Trajan annexed the area as another Roman province and then extended operations into Mesopotamia. The reverse of this coin depicts Trajan's acclamation by the troops as imperator for the eighth time, which occurred with the fall of the city of Singara in 115 during the campaigns on the eastern frontier.