Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XXI 24-25 Mar 2021
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Trajan AV Aureus. Rome, circa AD 112-113. IMP TRAIANO AVG GER DAC P M TR P COS VI P P, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust to right / S P Q R OPTIMO PRINCIPI, personification of the Via Traiana reclining to left, holding wheel and branch; VIA TRAIANA in exergue. RIC II 266 var. (bust type); BMCRE 484; Woytek 397f; Calicó 1128. 7.14g, 19mm, 6h.
Good Extremely Fine. Very Rare.
From a private European collection.
Built by Trajan at his own expense and commemorated with an arch at its beginning in Beneventum, as well as on his coinage, the Via Traiana was a quicker route for travellers from Rome to Brundisium on the coast. At 205 miles, despite being two miles longer than the Via Appia, the Via Traiana was a much less arduous and therefore faster option than the original Republican road because it traversed a significantly flatter route to the north. Strabo, in his Geography (6.3.7), indicates that the route of the Via Traiana, even though in his day little more than a mule track, saved the traveller a whole day's journeying.
Good Extremely Fine. Very Rare.
From a private European collection.
Built by Trajan at his own expense and commemorated with an arch at its beginning in Beneventum, as well as on his coinage, the Via Traiana was a quicker route for travellers from Rome to Brundisium on the coast. At 205 miles, despite being two miles longer than the Via Appia, the Via Traiana was a much less arduous and therefore faster option than the original Republican road because it traversed a significantly flatter route to the north. Strabo, in his Geography (6.3.7), indicates that the route of the Via Traiana, even though in his day little more than a mule track, saved the traveller a whole day's journeying.