Trajan AR Denarius, Rome AD 114-117, Column of Trajan, RIC II 356

Trajan, denarius, silver, reign AD 98–117, struck at Rome AD 114–117; 3.25 g, 19 mm. Obv: IMP CAES NER TRAIANO OPTIMO AVG GER DAC; laureate, draped bust right. Rev: P M TR P COS VI P P S P Q R; the Column of Trajan surmounted by a statue of Trajan; two eagles at the base; spiral-decorated shaft with a wreath featuring pellets. Struck on a sound flan, obverse well centered with full legend; reverse slightly off-center to right with a fine edge fissure at 4 o’clock and minor die softness at the top of the column. RIC II Trajan 356.

The type commemorates the Column of Trajan, dedicated in AD 113 in the Forum of Trajan to celebrate the Dacian Wars. Designed by Apollodorus of Damascus, the monument’s spiral relief documents the campaigns and originally supported an honorific statue of the emperor; after Trajan’s death in 117 his ashes were placed in the base. The obverse titulature includes OPTIMO, a title granted in 114, and the reverse legend records his offices (Pontifex Maximus, tribunician power, consul for the sixth time, father of the country) with SPQR, linking the issue directly to this state monument and its message of Roman victory.