I thought this was a really interesting example and had to have one for the denarii collection. Does anyone have a RIC # for this one? Seller's description says it's Arabia with branch to the left, a camel in the background and a fasces(?) upright in left arm. I read that they struck these on campaign at a mobile mint. Is that true or were they actually made in Rome? I would think this reverse could help narrow down the date of production. They don't seem as common.
Your coin is RIC II Rome 142. The COS V legends were struck between A.D. 103- 111; but this type references the annexation of Arabia which happened in A.D. 106. This was a diplomatic victory rather than a military victory. RIC rates it as common.
Trajan's annexation of the Nabataean Kingdom, Arabia, took place in 106 AD. It was a vast kingdom extending from Bostra (now in South Syria) to Hegra (near al-Ula in saudi Arabia), over most of today's Jordan and the Israeli Negev. This kingdom has been an ally and client of Rome since 62 BC, when the Nabataean king Aretas III was drawn into the Roman sphere of influence by Marcus Aemilius Scaurus, governor of Syria. Denarii had been minted back then in 58 BC showing Aretas III with his camel extending the olive-branch. When the last Nabataean king Rabbel II died, in 106 AD, Trajan did not recognize any successor but sent Cornelius Palma, the governor of Syria, to take control of the kingdom with elements of the VIth Legion Ferrata. In the same time elements of the IIIrd Legion Cyrenaica, from Egypt, occupied the south and the capital Petra, led by Caius Claudius Severus who would become the first governor of the new province of Arabia. The official Roman narrative is that it was a peaceful annexation. Maybe not so peaceful. Traces of destructions have been noted in Petra, dating back to the early 2nd c. AD. A Nabataean inscription in Hegra mentions a king named Malichus (Malichus III ?), otherwise unknown, who probably reigned there for a few weeks or months without Roman approval. Ammianus Marcellinus wrote in the late 4th c. that Trajan did not take control of Arabia and make it a province without a fight... The situation was probably appeased when Trajan enlisted the core of the Nabataean army into the Roman army, creating several new auxiliary cohorts. Your coin advertized the annexation of Arabia. This type of Arabia standing was struck on aurei, denarii, sestertii, dupondii and asses, all from the Rome mint. From 111 to 114 it was also struck on nabataean tetradrachms with greek legends minted in Rome for circulation in Arabia (often called tridrachms, but their silver content is 4 times the silver content of a nabataean drachm), and on nabataean drachms minted in Antioch for Arabia too. The camel and the branch are a reminder of the old Scaurus denarius. The long vertical object cannot be cinnamon sticks (which could not make any sense) or "calami odorati", but more probably a lictor's fasces, symbolizing the fact that Arabia was now a Roman province under a Roman governor.
Great info. Very interesting. I edited the description. Maybe seller was just being cute. Your explanation makes more sense.
