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<p>[QUOTE="Curtisimo, post: 3117210, member: 83845"]<p style="text-align: center"><font size="6"><span style="color: #404040"><u><b>Theory #1</b></u></span></font></p> <p style="text-align: center"><font size="5"><b>The coin celebrates the pontoon bridge(s) that were used to cross the Danube at the start of the first war.</b></font></p><p><br /></p><p>Mattingly may have meant to incorporate this theory into his explanation when he wrote “The principle engineering feat of the campaign, namely the crossing of the Danube, is referred to on Denarii with the legend DANVVIVS” [1]. However he then immediately spends time discussing Trajan’s stone and timber bridge and does not mention the pontoon bridges at all. It would surprise me if the pontoon bridge theory hadn’t already been published somewhere but I was unable to find any reference to it in my research. For a contemporary connection between the river Danube and the pontoon bridges that were used by the Roman army one need look no further than the first few scenes of Trajan’s column (see Figure 10).</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]792375[/ATTACH]</p><p><i><font size="3">Figure 10 – Left: the personification of the Danube watches the Romans cross a pontoon bridge at the start of the war. Right: The Danube reclines while holding the prow of a ship [11].</font></i></p><p><br /></p><p>There are several instances of pontoon bridges shown on Trajan’s column (Scene IV, XLVIII etc.) and several lesser bridges shown during construction of the forts but the personification of the Danube appears only once: at the start of the first campaign of the first war. In this scene the personified Danube looks up and to the right while watching the Roman army cross over his waters into Dacian territory. If you look closely you can even see the Danube’s thumb under one of the ships as he reaches out to steady the bridge as the Romans cross. There are many interpretations to what this might signify but a plausible explanation is that the Danube is an enemy of the Dacians and supports the Romans by allowing them safe passage. Therefore, to the Romans the Danube is not a barbarian frontier but a proper Roman river supporting Roman objectives.</p><p><br /></p><p>In order to make the case that the image on the coin and the image on the column were both meant to glorify the initial crossing of the Danube on pontoon bridges let’s take a look at some of the similarities between the two.</p><p><br /></p><ul> <li>On the coin the Danube is shown velificatio to represent its notoriously powerful current. The Danube on the column is shown surrounded by water that is carved to invoke vigorous motion. This is done to make the Roman crossing seem that much more impressive to Roman audiences.</li> <li>The figure of the Danube is rendered very similarly in both representation (distinctive wild hair and beard) and even the direction of his gaze is the same (somewhat usual for a river diety on a coin). The artistic similarities between the Danube on the column and coin are so striking that it seems reasonable to assume that one influenced the other or that they were both influenced by the same source (the coin was struck in AD 107 and the column built from AD 107 – 113).</li> <li>On the coin we see the Danube reaching out to rest his hand on the prow of a ship, perhaps to steady it. On the column we have clear evidence that the Danube is reaching out to steady the ships as the Romans cross above.</li> </ul><p>Even if one does not consider the similarities between column and coin very compelling it still seems reasonable that Trajan would want to play up the symbolic start of the war. After all, it was Trajan who was determined to press ahead with the war in order to avenge the humiliation the Romans suffered under Domitian and the fact that he placed the bridges and the Danube in the first full size panel of his column is compelling evidence for the importance of the moment. Also, as shown in Figure 9 Trajan’s mint officials chose types that may have corresponded with important symbolic moments in the campaign; A Dacian presenting his shield to Trajan to end the first war, Victory and Trophies to separate the campaigns, the great bridge to open the second war and, controversially, the death of Decebalus to end the wars for good. It seems reasonable that the beginning act of the first war would qualify for inclusion in such a list.</p><p><br /></p><p>As a fun bonus to the discussion it is interesting to note that the iconography of the Danube from the coins and column was so influential that even 1,538 years after they were made a sculpture of the Danube in Bernini’s Fountain of the Four Rivers is easily recognizable as a descendent of these ancient Roman prototypes.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]792376[/ATTACH]</p><p><font size="3"><i>Figure 11 – The Danube personified in the Fountain of the Four Rivers (AD 1651) by Bernini. The wild-haired Danube reaches up to steady the coat of arms of Pope Innocent X. He is shown as the most noble of the rivers. (Author’s photos)</i></font></p><p><br /></p><p style="text-align: center"><font size="6"><span style="color: #404040"><u><b>Theory #2</b></u></span></font></p> <p style="text-align: center"><font size="5"><b>The coin celebrates the completion of a canal built by Trajan that made the Danube navigable along its entire length.</b></font></p><p><br /></p><p>This is another theory that I have not seen published in any of my research but that, I believe, has a lot of interesting evidence to support it. As shown in the above write up of the war it is clear that one of the primary difficulties faced by Trajan during his campaigns was the hard terrain of this area of the Danube region, and more particularly, the Iron Gate (not to be confused with the pass of the same name). In this area the Danube is flanked on both sides by shear mountain cliffs that make roads difficult to build and the river runs through many cataracts that made it all but impossible to send supplies with any confidence by river. This made it difficult for the major Roman centers on the Danube such as Viminacium, Oescus and Durostorum (see Figure 2) to support one another if needed. This became abundantly clear to Trajan when he was forced to respond to the Dacian counterattack in the winter of AD 101-102. In fact, if Trajan hadn’t foreseen this difficulty and pressed ahead with some ambitious construction projects from AD 98-101 the Roman army’s ability to counter this threat might have been greatly limited.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]792377[/ATTACH]</p><p><i><font size="3">Figure 12 – The Iron Gate of the Danube in 1904. Part of Trajan’s road, as seen on the left, was still in use when this photo was taken.</font></i></p><p><br /></p><p>As I alluded to in my write up Trajan travelled to the Dacian frontier before he even went to Rome in order to oversee construction projects. The first of these worth mentioning is the famous road that ran the entire 83 mile length of the Iron Gates on the Roman side of the river (Serbian side). This piece of the construction program is fairly well known thanks to the discovery of the Tabula Traiana in whose inscription Trajan boasts that by “excavating mountain rocks and using wood logs [Trajan] has made this road” [13]. His boast here is well founded as the road that he finished (construction had likely been sporadically taking place for decades) ran through places in the Iron Gate where the cliffs were steepest and the only way to build a road was to carve it out of the solid rock. He also built a cantilevered section out of wood that hung over the river in order to make the road wider and until recently the holes carved in the rock for the timber were still visible (see Figure 13). The name of a nearby Roman fort, Caput Bovis, gives some indication that the cantilever was constructed so that oxen could be used to haul Roman ships upriver. You can see how this would be a benefit to the supply of a Roman army operating in Dacia and along the frontier. Unfortunately both the road and the original location of the Tabula were flooded in 1972 with the construction of the Iron Gate I Dam.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]792378[/ATTACH]</p><p><i><font size="3">Figure 13 – The Tabula Traiana as it appeared in its original location before it was flooded in 1972. Notice the holes for the wooden posts.</font></i></p><p><br /></p><p>A lesser known piece of Trajan’s pre-invasion construction projects, but perhaps a more important one, was his building of one or several canals on the Danube. In ancient times the Danube looked a lot different than it does today. Before the building of the Dam flooded the whole gorge the river along the Iron Gates was known for its imposing rapids, rock formations, and a steep decent in level that made it unpredictable and dangerous to navigate while travelling downstream and impossible to navigate travelling upstream. There were a few scattered remains that were theorized to be part of an old Roman canal system but that theory was not provable until 1969 when a marble slab was found that could be dated to AD 101 [13].</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]792379[/ATTACH]</p><p><i><font size="3">Figure 14 – Marble Inscription Commemorating Trajan’s Canal </font></i></p><p><br /></p><p>The inscription reads:</p><p><i>IMP(ERATOR) CAESAR DIVI NERVAE F(ILIVS)</i></p><p><i>NERVA TRAIANVS AVG(VSTVS) GERM(ANICVS)</i></p><p><i>PONT(IFEX) MAX(IMVS) TRIB(VNICIA) POT(ESTATE) V P(ATER) P(ATRIAE) CO(N)S(VL) IIII</i></p><p><i>OB PERICVLVM CATARACTARVM</i></p><p><i>DERIVATO FLVMINE TVTAM DANVVI</i></p><p><i>NAVIGATIONEM FECIT.</i></p><p><br /></p><p><i>The Emperor Caesar, Son of the Deified Nerva</i></p><p><i>Nerva Trajan Augustus Germanicus</i></p><p><i>High Priest, Holder of Tribunician Power for the 5th time, Father of his Country, Consul for the 4th time</i></p><p><i>Because of the dangerous cataracts</i></p><p><i>Diverted the river and made the whole Danube</i></p><p><i>Navigable</i></p><p><br /></p><p>In this amazing inscription we learn the secret of how Trajan was able to move his legions and supplies up and down the Danube as shown on his column. He quite literally dug a new river next to the old one! The main part of the canal ran from the Kasajna tributary at least to the modern village of Sip and may have extended to Caput Bovin where the inscription was found [13]. Even though the remains of the canal have been flooded by the modern dam we can still get a sense of what the canal might have looked like by looking at historic photographs of the Sip Canal. The Sip Canal was built along the same route as Trajan’s Canal and was meant to serve the exact same purpose. It was completed in 1896.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]792380[/ATTACH]</p><p><i><font size="3">Figure 15 – Left: The Danube cataracts before 1896. Right: The construction of the Sip Canal ca. 1896. The old level of the Danube is shown on the left. The empty canal is shown on the right.</font></i></p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]792381[/ATTACH]</p><p><i><font size="3">Figure 16 – Map of Trajan’s Canal</font></i></p><p><br /></p><p>So what evidence is there that RIC II 100 is referencing the canal? I shall point to two separate pieces of evidence that I think show that the theory is plausible.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>1. Trajan’s column shows supply ships on the Danube even before it shows the personified Danube and the pontoon bridge.</b></p><p><br /></p><p>In theory #1 we looked at the personification of the Danube as he helped see the Romans across the river. One thing to note though is that this actually takes place in scenes III and IV. In the awkward and narrow space taken up by the first few scenes we see watchtowers and, more importantly, ships unloading supplies at a Roman town. In fact, just to the left of the personified Danube we see a loaded ship ready to supply the troops. If anything I think this represents an acknowledgement of how logistics and planning were just as important to the success of the Legion as was its virtus.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]792382[/ATTACH]</p><p><i><font size="3">Figure 17 – Left: Watchtowers and Soldiers. Right: Ships unloading supplies on the Danube (Scene II & III) [11].</font></i></p><p><br /></p><p><b>2. Trajan’s mint officials used a remarkably similar iconography to refer to the completion of another of Trajan’s transportation projects. </b></p><p><br /></p><p>In AD 109 the emperor paid for the construction of an extension of the Via Appia from Beneventum to Brundisium at his own expense [1]. He was proud enough of this achievement that he issued coins with the reverse inscription VIA TRAIANA. These coins show the personification of the road reclining, head turned up and to the right, holding a multi-spoked wheel and branch. Take a look at RIC II 100 in comparison and the resemblance is unmistakable.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]792383[/ATTACH]</p><p><i><font size="3">Figure 18 – Comparison of the VIA TRAIANA and DANVVIVS types. VIA TRIANA photo courtesy of <a href="https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=71817" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=71817" rel="nofollow">CNG </a></font></i></p><p><br /></p><p>Both figures are reclining in the same pose with heads turned up to the right. Both figures are holding symbols of the type of travel they facilitate; for VIA TRAIANA: the wheel of a wagon, for DANVVIVS: the prow of a ship. Both are shown with symbols that define them; for VIA TRAIANA: a branch from the countryside she travels through, for DANVVIVS: velificatio showing the power of his current. When taken together and in light of what we know about the magnitude of Trajan’s construction along the Danube these factors are remarkably convincing.</p><p><br /></p><p>By showing the Danube as a corridor for travel and trade Trajan could be making the case that it is no longer a barbarian frontier to be feared. With Dacia firmly established as a province of the empire the Danube had transformed from the edge of the world into the site of just another of Trajan’s engineering marvels built by the Romans for the benefit of the Romans. To my mind this theory represents the most likely explanation of the coin type.</p><p><br /></p><p>For some additional thoughts on the Danube and ancient trade see <a href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/trajan-the-best-emperor-and-the-mystery-of-the-river-god.318843/page-3#post-3119284" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/trajan-the-best-emperor-and-the-mystery-of-the-river-god.318843/page-3#post-3119284">Post #47</a></p><p><br /></p><p style="text-align: center"><u>References</u></p><p><br /></p><p><font size="3">[1] Mattingly, H. & Sydenham, E.; The Roman Imperial Coinage, Vol. II, Vespasian to Hadrian; London, 1926</font></p><p><font size="3"><br /></font></p><p><font size="3">[2] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felicior_Augusto,_melior_Traiano" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felicior_Augusto,_melior_Traiano" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felicior_Augusto,_melior_Traiano</a></font></p><p><font size="3"><br /></font></p><p><font size="3">[3] <a href="https://digitaldante.columbia.edu/dante/divine-comedy/paradiso/paradiso-20/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://digitaldante.columbia.edu/dante/divine-comedy/paradiso/paradiso-20/" rel="nofollow">https://digitaldante.columbia.edu/dante/divine-comedy/paradiso/paradiso-20/</a></font></p><p><font size="3"><br /></font></p><p><font size="3">[4] <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/trajan-column/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/trajan-column/" rel="nofollow">https://www.nationalgeographic.com/trajan-column/</a></font></p><p><font size="3"><br /></font></p><p><font size="3">[5] <a href="https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=162639" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=162639" rel="nofollow">https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=162639</a></font></p><p><font size="3"><br /></font></p><p><font size="3">[6] Fischer, J.; Marius and Trajan: Two Great Roman Strategists; Air Command and Staff College, Sept. 5, 1984</font></p><p><font size="3"><br /></font></p><p><font size="3">[7] The Topography of the First Dacian War of Trajan (a.d. 101-102) a new Approach<i>Coriolan Opreanu</i></font></p><p><font size="3"><br /></font></p><p><font size="3">[8] Mattingly, H. & Carson, R.; Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, Vol. 3, Nerva to Hadrian; London, 1936</font></p><p><font size="3"><br /></font></p><p><font size="3">[9] <a href="http://www.forumromanum.org/literature/trajane.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.forumromanum.org/literature/trajane.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.forumromanum.org/literature/trajane.html</a></font></p><p><font size="3"><br /></font></p><p><font size="3">[10] Davies, G.A.T.; Trajan’s First Dacian War; The Journal of Roman Studies, Vol. 7 (1917), pp 74-97</font></p><p><font size="3"><br /></font></p><p><font size="3">[11] <a href="http://www.trajans-column.org/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.trajans-column.org/" rel="nofollow">http://www.trajans-column.org</a></font></p><p><font size="3"><br /></font></p><p><font size="3">[12] <a href="http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/e/roman/texts/cassius_dio/68*.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/e/roman/texts/cassius_dio/68*.html" rel="nofollow">http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/e/roman/texts/cassius_dio/68*.html</a></font></p><p><font size="3"><br /></font></p><p><font size="3">[13] Sasel, J; Trajan’s Canal at the Iron Gate; The Journal of Roman Studies, Vol. 63 (1973), pp. 80-85</font></p><p><br /></p><p><font size="6"><span style="color: #404040"><b>Okay, if you are still with me after all of that I hope you will do me the honor of voting in the poll and posting your thoughts. What do YOU think the meaning of this type could be in reference to?</b></span></font></p><p><br /></p><p><font size="5"><span style="color: #000000"><b>Also while you are at it please post your:</b></span></font></p><p><font size="5"><span style="color: #ff0000"><b>Coins of Trajan!</b></span></font></p><p><font size="5"><span style="color: #ff0000"><b>Coins of a river god (Istros… man faced bull?)</b></span></font></p><p><font size="5"><span style="color: #ff0000"><b>Coins related to the Dacians</b></span></font></p><p><font size="5"><span style="color: #ff0000"><b>Coins from Viminacium</b></span></font></p><p><font size="5"><span style="color: #ff0000"><b>Coins showing a remarkable feat of engineering!</b></span></font></p><p><font size="5"><span style="color: #ff0000"><b>Did I forget anything? Post those too!</b></span></font></p><p><br /></p><p><font size="5"><span style="color: #ff0000"><b>Oh and… ummm… who do you think was the BEST emperor? <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie9" alt=":eek:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /><img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie93" alt=":troll:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /><img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie93" alt=":troll:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></b></span></font>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="Curtisimo, post: 3117210, member: 83845"][CENTER][SIZE=6][COLOR=#404040][U][B]Theory #1[/B][/U][/COLOR][/SIZE] [SIZE=5][B]The coin celebrates the pontoon bridge(s) that were used to cross the Danube at the start of the first war.[/B][/SIZE][/CENTER] Mattingly may have meant to incorporate this theory into his explanation when he wrote “The principle engineering feat of the campaign, namely the crossing of the Danube, is referred to on Denarii with the legend DANVVIVS” [1]. However he then immediately spends time discussing Trajan’s stone and timber bridge and does not mention the pontoon bridges at all. It would surprise me if the pontoon bridge theory hadn’t already been published somewhere but I was unable to find any reference to it in my research. For a contemporary connection between the river Danube and the pontoon bridges that were used by the Roman army one need look no further than the first few scenes of Trajan’s column (see Figure 10). [ATTACH=full]792375[/ATTACH] [I][SIZE=3]Figure 10 – Left: the personification of the Danube watches the Romans cross a pontoon bridge at the start of the war. Right: The Danube reclines while holding the prow of a ship [11].[/SIZE][/I] There are several instances of pontoon bridges shown on Trajan’s column (Scene IV, XLVIII etc.) and several lesser bridges shown during construction of the forts but the personification of the Danube appears only once: at the start of the first campaign of the first war. In this scene the personified Danube looks up and to the right while watching the Roman army cross over his waters into Dacian territory. If you look closely you can even see the Danube’s thumb under one of the ships as he reaches out to steady the bridge as the Romans cross. There are many interpretations to what this might signify but a plausible explanation is that the Danube is an enemy of the Dacians and supports the Romans by allowing them safe passage. Therefore, to the Romans the Danube is not a barbarian frontier but a proper Roman river supporting Roman objectives. In order to make the case that the image on the coin and the image on the column were both meant to glorify the initial crossing of the Danube on pontoon bridges let’s take a look at some of the similarities between the two. [LIST] [*]On the coin the Danube is shown velificatio to represent its notoriously powerful current. The Danube on the column is shown surrounded by water that is carved to invoke vigorous motion. This is done to make the Roman crossing seem that much more impressive to Roman audiences. [*]The figure of the Danube is rendered very similarly in both representation (distinctive wild hair and beard) and even the direction of his gaze is the same (somewhat usual for a river diety on a coin). The artistic similarities between the Danube on the column and coin are so striking that it seems reasonable to assume that one influenced the other or that they were both influenced by the same source (the coin was struck in AD 107 and the column built from AD 107 – 113). [*]On the coin we see the Danube reaching out to rest his hand on the prow of a ship, perhaps to steady it. On the column we have clear evidence that the Danube is reaching out to steady the ships as the Romans cross above. [/LIST] Even if one does not consider the similarities between column and coin very compelling it still seems reasonable that Trajan would want to play up the symbolic start of the war. After all, it was Trajan who was determined to press ahead with the war in order to avenge the humiliation the Romans suffered under Domitian and the fact that he placed the bridges and the Danube in the first full size panel of his column is compelling evidence for the importance of the moment. Also, as shown in Figure 9 Trajan’s mint officials chose types that may have corresponded with important symbolic moments in the campaign; A Dacian presenting his shield to Trajan to end the first war, Victory and Trophies to separate the campaigns, the great bridge to open the second war and, controversially, the death of Decebalus to end the wars for good. It seems reasonable that the beginning act of the first war would qualify for inclusion in such a list. As a fun bonus to the discussion it is interesting to note that the iconography of the Danube from the coins and column was so influential that even 1,538 years after they were made a sculpture of the Danube in Bernini’s Fountain of the Four Rivers is easily recognizable as a descendent of these ancient Roman prototypes. [ATTACH=full]792376[/ATTACH] [SIZE=3][I]Figure 11 – The Danube personified in the Fountain of the Four Rivers (AD 1651) by Bernini. The wild-haired Danube reaches up to steady the coat of arms of Pope Innocent X. He is shown as the most noble of the rivers. (Author’s photos)[/I][/SIZE] [CENTER][SIZE=6][COLOR=#404040][U][B]Theory #2[/B][/U][/COLOR][/SIZE] [SIZE=5][B]The coin celebrates the completion of a canal built by Trajan that made the Danube navigable along its entire length.[/B][/SIZE][/CENTER] This is another theory that I have not seen published in any of my research but that, I believe, has a lot of interesting evidence to support it. As shown in the above write up of the war it is clear that one of the primary difficulties faced by Trajan during his campaigns was the hard terrain of this area of the Danube region, and more particularly, the Iron Gate (not to be confused with the pass of the same name). In this area the Danube is flanked on both sides by shear mountain cliffs that make roads difficult to build and the river runs through many cataracts that made it all but impossible to send supplies with any confidence by river. This made it difficult for the major Roman centers on the Danube such as Viminacium, Oescus and Durostorum (see Figure 2) to support one another if needed. This became abundantly clear to Trajan when he was forced to respond to the Dacian counterattack in the winter of AD 101-102. In fact, if Trajan hadn’t foreseen this difficulty and pressed ahead with some ambitious construction projects from AD 98-101 the Roman army’s ability to counter this threat might have been greatly limited. [ATTACH=full]792377[/ATTACH] [I][SIZE=3]Figure 12 – The Iron Gate of the Danube in 1904. Part of Trajan’s road, as seen on the left, was still in use when this photo was taken.[/SIZE][/I] As I alluded to in my write up Trajan travelled to the Dacian frontier before he even went to Rome in order to oversee construction projects. The first of these worth mentioning is the famous road that ran the entire 83 mile length of the Iron Gates on the Roman side of the river (Serbian side). This piece of the construction program is fairly well known thanks to the discovery of the Tabula Traiana in whose inscription Trajan boasts that by “excavating mountain rocks and using wood logs [Trajan] has made this road” [13]. His boast here is well founded as the road that he finished (construction had likely been sporadically taking place for decades) ran through places in the Iron Gate where the cliffs were steepest and the only way to build a road was to carve it out of the solid rock. He also built a cantilevered section out of wood that hung over the river in order to make the road wider and until recently the holes carved in the rock for the timber were still visible (see Figure 13). The name of a nearby Roman fort, Caput Bovis, gives some indication that the cantilever was constructed so that oxen could be used to haul Roman ships upriver. You can see how this would be a benefit to the supply of a Roman army operating in Dacia and along the frontier. Unfortunately both the road and the original location of the Tabula were flooded in 1972 with the construction of the Iron Gate I Dam. [ATTACH=full]792378[/ATTACH] [I][SIZE=3]Figure 13 – The Tabula Traiana as it appeared in its original location before it was flooded in 1972. Notice the holes for the wooden posts.[/SIZE][/I] A lesser known piece of Trajan’s pre-invasion construction projects, but perhaps a more important one, was his building of one or several canals on the Danube. In ancient times the Danube looked a lot different than it does today. Before the building of the Dam flooded the whole gorge the river along the Iron Gates was known for its imposing rapids, rock formations, and a steep decent in level that made it unpredictable and dangerous to navigate while travelling downstream and impossible to navigate travelling upstream. There were a few scattered remains that were theorized to be part of an old Roman canal system but that theory was not provable until 1969 when a marble slab was found that could be dated to AD 101 [13]. [ATTACH=full]792379[/ATTACH] [I][SIZE=3]Figure 14 – Marble Inscription Commemorating Trajan’s Canal [/SIZE][/I] The inscription reads: [I]IMP(ERATOR) CAESAR DIVI NERVAE F(ILIVS) NERVA TRAIANVS AVG(VSTVS) GERM(ANICVS) PONT(IFEX) MAX(IMVS) TRIB(VNICIA) POT(ESTATE) V P(ATER) P(ATRIAE) CO(N)S(VL) IIII OB PERICVLVM CATARACTARVM DERIVATO FLVMINE TVTAM DANVVI NAVIGATIONEM FECIT.[/I] [I]The Emperor Caesar, Son of the Deified Nerva Nerva Trajan Augustus Germanicus High Priest, Holder of Tribunician Power for the 5th time, Father of his Country, Consul for the 4th time Because of the dangerous cataracts Diverted the river and made the whole Danube Navigable[/I] In this amazing inscription we learn the secret of how Trajan was able to move his legions and supplies up and down the Danube as shown on his column. He quite literally dug a new river next to the old one! The main part of the canal ran from the Kasajna tributary at least to the modern village of Sip and may have extended to Caput Bovin where the inscription was found [13]. Even though the remains of the canal have been flooded by the modern dam we can still get a sense of what the canal might have looked like by looking at historic photographs of the Sip Canal. The Sip Canal was built along the same route as Trajan’s Canal and was meant to serve the exact same purpose. It was completed in 1896. [ATTACH=full]792380[/ATTACH] [I][SIZE=3]Figure 15 – Left: The Danube cataracts before 1896. Right: The construction of the Sip Canal ca. 1896. The old level of the Danube is shown on the left. The empty canal is shown on the right.[/SIZE][/I] [ATTACH=full]792381[/ATTACH] [I][SIZE=3]Figure 16 – Map of Trajan’s Canal[/SIZE][/I] So what evidence is there that RIC II 100 is referencing the canal? I shall point to two separate pieces of evidence that I think show that the theory is plausible. [B]1. Trajan’s column shows supply ships on the Danube even before it shows the personified Danube and the pontoon bridge.[/B] In theory #1 we looked at the personification of the Danube as he helped see the Romans across the river. One thing to note though is that this actually takes place in scenes III and IV. In the awkward and narrow space taken up by the first few scenes we see watchtowers and, more importantly, ships unloading supplies at a Roman town. In fact, just to the left of the personified Danube we see a loaded ship ready to supply the troops. If anything I think this represents an acknowledgement of how logistics and planning were just as important to the success of the Legion as was its virtus. [ATTACH=full]792382[/ATTACH] [I][SIZE=3]Figure 17 – Left: Watchtowers and Soldiers. Right: Ships unloading supplies on the Danube (Scene II & III) [11].[/SIZE][/I] [B]2. Trajan’s mint officials used a remarkably similar iconography to refer to the completion of another of Trajan’s transportation projects. [/B] In AD 109 the emperor paid for the construction of an extension of the Via Appia from Beneventum to Brundisium at his own expense [1]. He was proud enough of this achievement that he issued coins with the reverse inscription VIA TRAIANA. These coins show the personification of the road reclining, head turned up and to the right, holding a multi-spoked wheel and branch. Take a look at RIC II 100 in comparison and the resemblance is unmistakable. [ATTACH=full]792383[/ATTACH] [I][SIZE=3]Figure 18 – Comparison of the VIA TRAIANA and DANVVIVS types. VIA TRIANA photo courtesy of [URL='https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=71817']CNG [/URL][/SIZE][/I] Both figures are reclining in the same pose with heads turned up to the right. Both figures are holding symbols of the type of travel they facilitate; for VIA TRAIANA: the wheel of a wagon, for DANVVIVS: the prow of a ship. Both are shown with symbols that define them; for VIA TRAIANA: a branch from the countryside she travels through, for DANVVIVS: velificatio showing the power of his current. When taken together and in light of what we know about the magnitude of Trajan’s construction along the Danube these factors are remarkably convincing. By showing the Danube as a corridor for travel and trade Trajan could be making the case that it is no longer a barbarian frontier to be feared. With Dacia firmly established as a province of the empire the Danube had transformed from the edge of the world into the site of just another of Trajan’s engineering marvels built by the Romans for the benefit of the Romans. To my mind this theory represents the most likely explanation of the coin type. For some additional thoughts on the Danube and ancient trade see [URL='https://www.cointalk.com/threads/trajan-the-best-emperor-and-the-mystery-of-the-river-god.318843/page-3#post-3119284']Post #47[/URL] [CENTER][U]References[/U][/CENTER] [SIZE=3][1] Mattingly, H. & Sydenham, E.; The Roman Imperial Coinage, Vol. II, Vespasian to Hadrian; London, 1926 [2] [url]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felicior_Augusto,_melior_Traiano[/url] [3] [url]https://digitaldante.columbia.edu/dante/divine-comedy/paradiso/paradiso-20/[/url] [4] [url]https://www.nationalgeographic.com/trajan-column/[/url] [5] [url]https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=162639[/url] [6] Fischer, J.; Marius and Trajan: Two Great Roman Strategists; Air Command and Staff College, Sept. 5, 1984 [7] The Topography of the First Dacian War of Trajan (a.d. 101-102) a new Approach[I]Coriolan Opreanu[/I] [8] Mattingly, H. & Carson, R.; Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, Vol. 3, Nerva to Hadrian; London, 1936 [9] [url]http://www.forumromanum.org/literature/trajane.html[/url] [10] Davies, G.A.T.; Trajan’s First Dacian War; The Journal of Roman Studies, Vol. 7 (1917), pp 74-97 [11] [URL='http://www.trajans-column.org/']http://www.trajans-column.org[/URL] [12] [url]http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/e/roman/texts/cassius_dio/68*.html[/url] [13] Sasel, J; Trajan’s Canal at the Iron Gate; The Journal of Roman Studies, Vol. 63 (1973), pp. 80-85[/SIZE] [SIZE=6][COLOR=#404040][B]Okay, if you are still with me after all of that I hope you will do me the honor of voting in the poll and posting your thoughts. What do YOU think the meaning of this type could be in reference to?[/B][/COLOR][/SIZE] [SIZE=5][COLOR=#000000][B]Also while you are at it please post your:[/B][/COLOR] [COLOR=#ff0000][B]Coins of Trajan![/B] [B]Coins of a river god (Istros… man faced bull?)[/B] [B]Coins related to the Dacians[/B] [B]Coins from Viminacium[/B] [B]Coins showing a remarkable feat of engineering![/B] [B]Did I forget anything? Post those too![/B][/COLOR][/SIZE] [SIZE=5][COLOR=#ff0000][B]Oh and… ummm… who do you think was the BEST emperor? :eek::troll::troll:[/B][/COLOR][/SIZE][/QUOTE]
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