Obverse: IMP TRAIANO AVG GER DAC P M TR P COS VI P P, laureate head right, slight drapery on far shoulder.

Reverse: S P Q R OPTIMO PRINCIPI, personification of Via Traiana reclining left on rocks, with wheel and branch; VIA TRAIANA in exergue.

RIC 266; BMCRE 487; RSC 648; Woytek 398. [Rome, AD 112-113].

Diameter: 19 mm. Weight: 3.4 g.

A stunning silver denarius of Trajan - the reverse with a wonderful depiction of the personification of the Via Traiana. 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. a quality specimen which would make a worthy addition to any early imperial collection.