The Aqua Traiana

Triton XVII, Lot: 682. Estimate $1000. Sold for $1300. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Trajan. AD 98-117. Æ Sestertius (33mm, 24.46 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck circa AD 112-113. IMP CAES NERVAE TRAIANO AVG GER DAC P M TR P COS VI P P, laureate bust right, slight drapery / S P Q R OPTIMO PRINCIPI, AQVA/TRAIANA in two lines in exergue, flanked by S C, Genius of the Aqua Traiana, holding reed in right hand and resting left arm on urn from which water flows, under arched grotto supported by two columns. RIC II 607; Woytek 448b; Strack 421; Banti 18; BMCRE 975; BN 702. VF, dark green patina, some brown, areas of minor roughness. Natural surfaces.

From the Archer M. Huntington Collection, ANS 1001.1.22925.

The Aqua Traiana was dedicated in AD 109 and supplied water to the expanding Transtiberine (west bank) suburbs of Rome.