★ Trajan's Conquests in the East ★

Trajan AV Aureus. Rome, AD 116-117. IMP CAES NER TRAIAN OPTIM AVG GERM DAC, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right, seen from behind / PARTHICO P M TR P P COS VI P P S P Q R, radiate and draped bust of Sol right. RIC 329; Calicó 1038; BMCRE 621. 7.21g, 20mm, 6h.

Extremely Fine; attractive lustre around the devices.

Ex Ambrose Collection; Roma Numismatics Ltd., Auction X, 27 September 2015, lot 785;
Ex Fritz Rudolf Künker GmbH & Co. KG, Auction 193, 26 September 2011, lot 674.

In AD 113, Trajan left Rome to embark upon his Parthian campaign. Osroes despatched an embassy from the Parthian court which finally met the emperor in Athens, by which point it was too late for him to turn back, and as R. P. Longden so eloquently writes, ‘their apprehensive humility would have no doubt only sharpened his zest for the enterprise’. (Cf. Longden, R.P., Notes on the Parthian Campaigns of Trajan, The Journal of Roman Studies 21, (1931), pp. 1-35).

The following year, Trajan invaded Armenia, deposed its king Parthamasiris, and annexed it as a Roman province. In 115, Trajan also annexed Northern Mesopotamia, and later the same year he captured the Parthian capital of Ctesiphon. Following the conquest of Ctesiphon, Trajan accepted the title ‘Parthicus’ in 115-116, which features as the reverse legend on the types of this lot; the bust of Sol, who rises in the East, may symbolise Roman dominance over the region.

Trajan’s glory was short-lived, however, since in late 116 revolts broke out in Armenia and Northern Mesopotamia, forcing Trajan to abandon his campaign to increase the territory of the Rome and consolidate that which he had already gained. Dio Cassius relates that on looking out towards India, Trajan lamented that his age prevented him from following in the footsteps of Alexander (LXVIII 28.1).