Trajan, 98 – 117. Aureus 112-114, AV 7.22 g. IMP TRAIANO AVG GER DAC P M TR P COS VI P P Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust r. Rev. Façade of Trajan’s forum showing main entrance flanked by a double colonnade; above, sculptured frieze with three facing quadrigae and two standing soldiers. In exergue, BASILICA VLPIA. C 42. BMC 492. RIC 247. Woytek 399f. CBN 660. Calicó 988.
Very rare and in exceptional condition for this difficult issue, among the finest specimens
known for this interesting and important issue. About extremely fine

Ex NAC A, 1991, 1803; Triton VIII, 2005, 1132 and NAC 51, 2009, 261 sales. From the collection of a retired banker.

Trajan’s obsession with architectural types must be seen as a reflection of his personal brand of megalomania – not as outrageous as Commodus, not as all-encompassing as Aurelian or Constantine – but a far cry from the moderatio of emperors like Tiberius, or his own predecessor Nerva. If Trajan’s coinage tells us anything, it is that he wished to be acknowledged by future generations for his accomplishments, notably in conquest and architecture. On this aureus we have a depiction of the Basilica Ulpia, part of a large building complex known as Trajan’s Forum (the Forum Traiani), which was the source of his other architectural commemoratives, including Trajan’s Column, the equestrian statue of Trajan, the entrance to the forum, and very likely also the Temple of Trajan. The basilica, which occupied an area of about 550 by 200 feet in the centre of Trajan’s Forum, was intended to be used for meetings, making speeches, and a host of other public activities. It was dedicated in 112 in the name of Trajan’s family, the Ulpii, and its first commemorative coins were sestertii of 111, struck just prior to its formal dedication. The next group, to which this coin belongs, was struck in 115. By then the basilica had been completed to the point of being useful to the public, and that aspect was celebrated with a second round of coinage, including more sestertii and a lone issue of aurei.