Obolos 37

Trajan, 98-117. Denarius (Silver, 20 mm, 3.52 g, 6 h), Rome, winter 114-spring 115. IMP CAES NER TRAIANO OPTIMO AVG GER DAC Laureate and draped bust of Trajan to right. Rev. P M TR P COS VI P P S P Q R View of the Column of Trajan: showing the statue of the emperor on top, the two eagles at its base, and the entrance below. BMC 565. Cohen 284. RIC II 356. Woytek 514v. Toned. Some marks, otherwise, about very fine.

From the Collection of Prof. James M. Collier, acquired in Amsterdam, in 1996.

This lot is sold to benefit the Collier Prize in Ancient Numismatics offered by the American Numismatic Society.

Trajan's column is one of the best known and most recognizable of all the monuments of Rome. Built to commemorate Trajan's Dacian Wars, it was finished in 113 and commemorated by coins struck in 113/114. The sculptural frieze, illustrating the campaigns of 101-102 and 105-106, contain nearly 2500 figures (the emperor himself appears 59 times among his troops). The column was originally set between the Greek and Latin Libraries and the Basilica Ulpia at the northern end of Trajan's Forum - viewers could have seen the reliefs from the balconies of those buildings. The statue of Trajan that was originally on top of the column disappeared at some point during medieval times: in 1587 Pope Sixtus V topped the column with a bronze statue of St. Peter. The model was made by the sculptors Leonardo Sormani (fl. c. 1551-c. 1590) and Tommaso della Porta (c. 1550-1606), and the final mold that was used for the cast in bronze was by Bastiano Torrigiani (d. 1596).