Reply to Thread

Message:: [QUOTE="DonnaML, post: 4660420, member: 110350"]I believe I read that thread shortly after I joined this forum in late January.  I spent months after that waiting to find an example that was nice enough, and showed the battle standard with Draco in enough detail -- with both ears, the snout, and the "neck" clearly showing -- for me to want to buy it.  Now that we've jumped from Trajan to Trajan Decius, I might as well post the one I finally picked out. Not the best obverse, but I'm very happy with the reverse: Trajan Decius, AR Antoninianus, 249-250 AD, Rome Mint. Obv. Radiate and cuirassed bust right, IMP C MA Q TRAIANVS DECIVS AVG / Rev. Dacia standing left, wearing cloak over left shoulder and, with right hand, holding Dacian battle-standard surmounted by Draco (wolf’s head), D-A-CIA. RIC IV 12(b), RSC IV 16, Sear RCV III 9368. 22.28 mm., 4.09 g. [ATTACH=full]1149959[/ATTACH] The reverse looks very similar to [USER=99412]@PeteB[/USER]'s, although I'm not sure that it's  a die match. Obviously, 140 years of Roman rule was very good for Mr. Dacia, who looks considerably better-nourished than his ancestor.  Not only did the Dacians adopt their conquerors' language, but they obviously learned how to dig in to all that Italian food -- even though it was probably long before pasta was introduced. (The Marco Polo story is a complete myth, by the way!) Edited to add: can anyone identify the oval objects on Dacia's thighs?  Is it armor?[/QUOTE]