Trajan's Column
Trajan. AD 98-117. AR Denarius (19mm, 2.83 g, 7h). Rome mint. Struck circa spring AD 113-summer 114. Laureate bust right, wearing aegis / Trajan's Column: column surmounted by statue of Trajan standing left, holding patera and scepter, and set on podium decorated with two eagles. RIC II 292 var. (bust type); Woytek 425c; RSC 558b. Areas of porosity. Near EF. Very rare with this bust type. Woytek cites 3 examples.
Trajan's Column was the crowning glory of the Forum Traiani, built with the spoils of the Dacian Wars. Covered by a continuous frieze of the war's events, the column was capped with a gilded heroic statue of the emperor, while an inscription on the base recounted the feat of engineering in the forum's construction. After Trajan's death, the column became the repository of his ashes.
