Trajan. AD 98-117. AR Denarius (19mm, 3.29 g, 7h). Rome mint. Struck circa AD 112-113. IMP TRΛIΛNO AVG GER DΛC P M TR P COS VI P P, laureate bust right, slight drapery / S • P • Q • R • OPTIMO PRINCIPI, VIA TRAIANA in exergue, Via Traiana, bare to waist, reclinging left, head turned back to right, holding wheel of eight spokes on right knee and resting left arm on rocks, holding branch in left hand. RIC II 266; Woytek 398b; Strack 179α; RSC 648; BMCRE 487-91; BN 671 var. (bust type). Minor flan flaw on obverse. EF. Well struck on a round flan.
From the San Vicente Collection, purchased from Freeman & Sear (2003-2004).
This evocative reverse celebrates Via Traiana, depicting the highway as reclining female figure holding a wheel. This could refer to the Italian Via Trajana, constructed at the emperor's expense from AD 109 to 113, which ran 205 miles from Brindisium to Beneventum and largely replaced the old Appian Way. A second major artery, the Via Traiana Nova, stretching from Syria to Egypt, was also constructed at about the same time as part of the runup to Trajan's offensive against the Parthian Empire.