Fine Coins Showcase
Antiquities Showcase
Show Empty Categories
Shop Search
Shopping Cart
My FORVM
Contact Us
About Forum
Shopping at Forum
Our Guarantee
Payment Options
Shipping Options & Fees
Privacy & Security
Forum Staff
Selling Your Coins
Identifying Your Coin
FAQs
zoom.asp
Trajan, 25 January 98 - 8 or 9 August 117 A.D.
Trajan's "bridge reverse" is usually identified as the monumental bridge built across the Danube by the famous architect Apollodorus of Damascus, an amazing example of Roman engineering. Apollodorus' bridge is believed to have differed greatly from the bridge on coin and G.F. Hill suggested the bridge is the Pons Sublicius, a revered ancient wooden structure in Rome, often damaged by floods and presumably restored under Trajan. We believe the Danube Bridge is a more likely subject. Architecture is notoriously schematized on ancient coins and both bridges required piers in the riverbed, so the artistic departure from reality would be the same in both cases. While Apollodorus' own writings on the bridge are lost, it is depicted on Trajan's Column, and discussed in the writing of Cassius Dio and Procopius of Caesarea, among others. The bridge, constructed with wooden arches set on twenty masonry pillars, is estimated to have been 1135 meters long and the river about 800 meters wide. Each gateway was protected by a castrum. Procopius tells us that during construction the river was diverted and about half of the pillars were built on dry land. Cassius Dio tells us that Hadrian removed the wooden arches to protect Moesia from northern invasions. Since Dacia continued to be a province for about the next 150 years, the bridge must have been rebuilt. Aurelian likely demolished it when he abandoned Dacia. In 1856, when the Danube was at a record low, all twenty pillars were seen out of the water. In 1906 two were demolished to ease navigation. In 1982 archaeologists could only find the remains of twelve pillars. Both end pillars are still standing on the Serbian and Romanian shores.
RB89360. Orichalcum sestertius, Woytek 314bC, BMCRE III 847, Hunter II 320, BnF IV 315, RIC II 569, Strack I 385, Cohen II 542, SRCV II 3207, aF, bare toned brass, spots of corrosion, light marks, Rome mint, weight 24.040g, maximum diameter 33.8mm, die axis 180o, 107 - 110 A.D.; obverse IMP CAES NERVAE TRAIANO AVG GER DAC P M TR P COS V P P, laureate bust right, seen from behind, slight drapery on left shoulder; reverse SPQR OPTIMO PRINCIPI, arched single-span covered bridge over river, gateways surmounted by statuary, right one with flight of steps; boat sailing left on river below, S C (senatus consulto) in exergue; SOLD
REFERENCES
Page created in 0.563 seconds.
