Trajan. AD 98-117. Æ Sestertius (34mm, 25.56 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck circa AD 103-104. Laureate head right / View of the Circus Maximus, showing a colonnaded front, with arch, indicating gateway, surmounted by facing quadriga, on right, and, behind it, higher up, a similar arch with quadriga, and another arch, surmounted by quadriga facing right at extreme left: the sides of the Circus are not seen but the back is indicated by a sweep of colonnades: in the interior is the great obelisk in center; to left and right smaller obelisks. RIC II 571; Woytek 175a; Banti 272; Elkins, Monuments Figure 111. Dark green-brown patina, some red, areas of smoothing and light pitting, several spots of fill. VF.
From the Bellwether Collection, purchased from Freeman & Sear, April 1994.
The Circus Maximus, perhaps the second greatest monument built for the benefit of Rome’s citizens after the famed Flavian Amphitheater (Colosseum), was restored by Trajan in AD 103.
CNG Auction 126, Lot 754, 2024, 1108 pc
