TRAJAN SESTERTII

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Architectural types 1st Arch After returning to Rome in 99AD, an Arch was built to Comemmorate the Germanic Victories of Trajan. This Arch has been described several ways but the main features are an Arch with 3 entrys topped with Trajan in a chariot of 10-12 horses with army trophys(sometimes with seated captives) at each side.   from the Matthew Sersch collection   obv : IMP CAES NERVA TRAIAN AVG GERM PM rev: TR POT COS III PP 34mm 25.9g Head right 99-100 ad ref: RIC 419, Banti 332 This is the only Legend combination used on all varieties. Additional Varieties Head right but rev has Trajan in quadriga on arch, crowned by 2 victories (RIC 420)  Head right, draped left shoulder (Banti 333) According to Strack this arch of Trajan still survives, though in poor condition: it is that set up over the Via Appia, in front of the Appian Gate, today known by the misnomer "Arch of Drusus". According to Strack the surviving structure of this arch, in particular the three passageways of equal height, matches what the coin shows, and it should be identified with the "arcus Divi Traiani" recorded as standing in Rome's First Region in a surviving ancient inventory of Rome's buildings.   Mattingly in BMC reports Strack's conclusion without objection, but it may not to be generally accepted today. Richardson, New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome (1992), tentatively accepts that the surviving "Arch of Drusus" may be the "Arch of Divus Traianus" mentioned in the inventory, but only says it seems different from the IOM arch on Trajan's COS V sestertii, and doesn't mention the COS III type at all! Comments by Curtis Clay   another example: From the Delane Hewitt Collection         All Varieties are considered extremely rare.       Free counters provided by Honesty Communications.