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Trajan. AD 98-117. Æ Sestertius (33.5mm, 28.36 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck after 20 February AD 116-August 117. Laureate and draped bust right / Trajan, wearing military attire, standing facing, head right, holding reversed spear and parazonium; around feet, Armenia, Tigris, and Euphrates: to right, Armenia resting hand on head flanked by Euphrates and Tigris, both reclining on urn from which water flows and holding reed. RIC II 642; Woytek 590v–3; Banti 29. Dark red-brown and green patina, smoothed and tooled. Good VF.
From the Wild Rose Collection. Ex Praefectus Coins inventory ROS1213 (October 2014); Gemini XI (12 January 2014), lot 431 (part of).
Beginning in 114 AD, Trajan began his campaign against Parthia. The immediate cause of the war was the situation in Armenia, a strategic and semi-independent kingdom which acted as an important buffer between the two empires. Parthia's deposition of the pro-Roman king of Armenia with one that was pro-Parthian upset the tenuous balance and thereby threatened Syria's wealthy cities. Trajan's campaign againt Armenia was swift and decisive; by 115 AD, Armenia had been absorbed as a Roman province. To secure the eastern frontier, he then moved southward through Mesopotamia, capturing the Parthian capital, Ctesiphon, in 116 AD, bringing the "Cradle of Civilization" under Roman control. The reverse type on this coin is a direct allusion to Trajan's conquering of Mesopotamia, and is also interesting in that its personifications correspond to the actual geography of the region.
Closing Date and Time: 5 June 2024 at 14:42:00 ET.
All winning bids are subject to a 20% buyer’s fee.
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