Description
Trajan (AD 98-117).
AV Aureus, mint of Rome, AD 115.
Obverse: IMP TRAIANO AVG GER DAC P M TR P COS VI P P, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Trajan facing right.
Reverse: CONSERVATORI PATRIS PATRIAE, Jupiter standing left, holding sceptre and thunderbolt in outstretched right hand, over a small figure of Trajan, togate, holding a branch and roll.
(RIC 249; BMC 493).
Extremely Fine. Lustrous.
7.19g.
During the winter of AD 114-115, the city of Antioch was struck by a huge earthquake. Trajan was present during the disaster, and rushed to the relative safety of the city’s hippodrome, where he waited for several days. This spectacular issue of AD 114-5, depicts Trajan (left) standing beneath a much larger Jupiter (left) whom holds his arm out, protecting the emperor. The coin is likely to have been struck to celebrate divine intervention from Jupiter, who kept Trajan safe during the earthquake and tsunami which claimed the lives of so many civilians.”
