Trajan Sestertius 103-111 Rome RIC 569 Bridge Sesterce
Trajan, Sestertius, 103-111, Rome
60.00$RIC II Trajan 569 (sestertius).
Obv.: IMP CAES NERVAE TRAIANO AVG GER DAC P M TR P COS V P P, Bust of Trajan, laureate, draped, right|Bust of Trajan, laureate, draped on left shoulder, right.
Rev.: S P Q R OPTIMO PRINCIPI S C, Arched, single-span bridge over river with eight vertical bars on side; boat moored below at right.
13.19 g
29.5 mm
Trajan's massive military campaign against Dacia involved construction of a celebrated bridge across the Danube in AD 104. The structure was designed by the famous architect Apollodorus of Damascus and carried out in record time by legionary engineers and workmen. It can be clearly seen on Trajan's Column; however, the appearance of the bridge differs markedly from the one depicted here. Hill, in "The Monuments of Ancient Rome as Coin Types," pages 105-106, posits that Trajan's sestertius depicts the Pons Sublicius across the Tiber in Rome. One of the city's oldest bridges, it was frequently damaged by floods and Trajan may have undertaken a renovation and reconstruction around this time, although none is officially recorded. It is also not inconceivable that the coin is intended to evoke both the Danube bridge and Trajan's putative rebuilding of the Pons Sublicius.
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