Titus Gold Aureus, RIC II, Part 1 (second edition) Titus 117

Monetary Context and Imperial Policy

The gold aureus represented the principal store of value and highest denomination in the Roman monetary system during the late first century AD. Established at a reformed theoretical weight standard of 1/45th of a Roman pound (approximately 7.28 to 7.30 grams) under Nero in 64 AD, the aureus maintained exceptional metallic purity throughout the Flavian dynasty. Under Vespasian and subsequently Titus, the imperial administration preserved this metric standard to stabilize public credit, finance military expenditures, and rebuild infrastructure following the civil wars of 68 to 69 AD. Gold coinage under Titus functioned as an instrument of state finance and ideological communication. The short sole principate of Titus (June 79 to September 81 AD) was marked by catastrophic domestic emergencies, including the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in August 79 AD and a devastating three-day fire followed by plague in Rome in 80 AD. In response, the imperial treasury bore substantial relief expenditures, subsidizing displaced citizens and funding religious supplications. The issuance of gold aurei such as RIC II, Part 1 (second edition) Titus 117 met state obligations, remunerated high-ranking officials and military units, and broadcast messages of piety, divine favor, and institutional resilience across the empire.

Mint Production and Technical Standards

Production of RIC II, Part 1 (second edition) Titus 117 was concentrated entirely at the central imperial mint in Rome. By the reign of Titus, gold and silver striking had been firmly consolidated in the capital following the gradual closure of western provincial mints that had operated during the civil wars and early years of Vespasian's rule. The Rome mint employed specialized workshops (officinae) capable of handling high-volume gold processing, including blank casting, precision weighing, and die-engraving. The flans for this aureus were cast from refined native gold or recycled bullion, achieving purities consistently exceeding 98 to 99 percent fine gold. Die alignment for the issue predominantly follows the standard Roman imperial medal orientation, typically positioned at 6 o'clock or 12 o'clock with minor workshop variance. Engraving standards at Rome during 80 AD demonstrate a high degree of artistic refinement; the dies exhibit crisp, high-relief portraiture on the obverse and meticulously rendered drapery folds and decorative motifs on the reverse furniture. Weight distribution clustered tightly around 7.25 to 7.35 grams, indicating rigorous mint quality control before release into treasury channels.

Obverse Iconography and Imperial Portraiture

The obverse of the coin features a right-facing, mature portrait of Titus wearing the laurel wreath (corona triumphalis). His features are rendered in the distinctive Flavian realistic style, characterized by a broad, square cranium, fleshy jowls, a prominent aquiline nose, and furrowed brow lines that project sober gravitas, civic duty, and mature military authority. Unlike the idealized classicizing portraiture of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Flavian dynastic portraiture consciously emphasized familial likeness and unpretentious republican virtue. The laurel wreath ties securely at the back of the emperor's head with two ribbon ties falling down the nape of the neck. The imperial truncation is executed cleanly above the beaded border. The portrait style aligns closely with the contemporaneous silver denarii and bronze issues of Rome, reflecting the output of master engravers operating in the premier officinae of the urban mint.

Reverse Typology and Religious Symbolism

The reverse iconography depicts a draped square seat or couch (pulvinar), surmounted horizontally by a winged thunderbolt. The seat features draped textiles that hang down in symmetrical vertical pleats, sometimes terminating in decorative fringe or tassels along the lower edge. Resting upon the cushioned top of the seat is the fulmen, the traditional winged thunderbolt of Jupiter, rendered with central spindle and extending lightning barbs. This design belongs to the celebrated pulvinar series struck in gold, silver, and bronze during 80 AD. In Roman religion, a pulvinar was an empty sacred couch prepared during a lectisternium, a solemn propitiatory ceremony in which statues or symbols of the gods were displayed upon banqueting couches to invite divine participation in civic banquets and to avert divine wrath. Numismatists have demonstrated that these pulvinaria formed part of an extensive religious program instituted after the fire and epidemic of 80 AD. The thunderbolt explicitly designates this particular couch for Jupiter Optimus Maximus, the chief guardian of the Roman state, invoking supreme divine favor to restore tranquility and prosperity to the capital.

Inscriptions and Epigraphic Analysis

The obverse legend reads IMP TITVS CAES VESPASIAN AVG P M, running continuously clockwise from the lower left rim. This formulaic sequence records Titus's full imperial nomenclature: Imperator (military commander and prenominal title), Titus Caesar (dynastic family name), Vespasian (patronymic identification with his deified father), Augustus (the supreme imperial honorific), and Pontifex Maximus (chief priest of the Roman state religion). The inclusion of Pontifex Maximus underscores Titus's role as the intermediary between the gods and the Roman people, reinforcing the sacred context of the reverse. The reverse inscription records TR P IX IMP XV COS VIII P P, delineating the emperor's official constitutional powers: Tribunicia Potestate nonum (tribunician power held for the ninth time), Imperator quintum decimum (acclaimed imperator for the fifteenth time), Consul octavum (consul for the eighth time), and Pater Patriae (father of the fatherland). This cumulative sequence provides the epigraphic anchor for dating the issue, combining Titus's eighth consulship (entered on 1 January 80 AD) with his fifteenth imperatorial acclamation and ninth renewal of tribunician power.

Typological Classification and Chronological Placement

In the standard reference corpus The Roman Imperial Coinage, Vol. II, Part 1 (second edition), this aureus is catalogued under number 117 for the reign of Titus. It shares identical reverse iconography with contemporaneous silver denarii (RIC 118) and belongs to a comprehensive sequence of pulvinar types produced throughout 80 AD that honored distinct deities through their sacred symbols, including the curule chair and wreath for the deified Vespasian, the dolphin and anchor for Neptune, and the wheat ears and modius for Ceres. The chronological boundaries of RIC 117 are exceptionally narrow. Titus entered his eighth consulship (COS VIII) on 1 January 80 AD. His ninth tribunician year (TR P IX) extended from 1 July 79 to 30 June 80 AD, while his fifteenth imperatorial acclamation (IMP XV) was received in late 79 or early 80 AD following campaigns in Britain. The coin was therefore struck during the first half of 80 AD, prior to Titus assuming his tenth tribunician power (TR P X) on 1 July 80 AD. Minor die variations occur primarily in the rendering of the drapery folds on the seat and the angle of the winged thunderbolt, but the epigraphic and typological scheme remains completely uniform.

Circulation, Hoard Evidence, and Monetary Impact

Due to their high intrinsic value, Roman gold aurei did not circulate in ordinary daily market transactions; instead, they functioned as instruments for high-value commerce, military pay, imperial gifts, and substantial fiscal reserves. Aurei were frequently hoarded during times of political instability or personal accumulation. RIC 117 has been identified in major hoards across the western provinces and Italy, typically buried in the late first or second century AD. Under Trajan in 107 AD, substantial quantities of pre-Neronian and early Flavian gold were officially recalled and melted down for re-coinage at slightly reduced weights, which thinned the surviving population of Flavian aurei. Nevertheless, surviving specimens of RIC 117 exhibit varying degrees of light to moderate wear, demonstrating that they circulated alongside Vespasianic issues for several decades before being removed from the pool of currency. The survival of this issue provides key material evidence for Flavian gold production and ritual responses to civic crises in the early imperial era.

References

1. The Roman Aurei, Vol. 1: From the Republic to Pertinax (196 BC - 193 AD). p. 154, no. 791
2. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, Vol. II: Vespasian to Domitian. pp. 235-236, no. 61
3. Online Coins of the Roman Empire (OCRE): RIC II, Part 1 (second edition) Titus 117. ric.2_1(2).tit.117
4. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Vol. II, Part 1: From AD 69 to 96 (Vespasian to Domitian). p. 206, no. 117