The Silver Denarius of Titus

Historical Context

Titus helped establish the Flavian dynasty through his role in the war in Judaea and the capture of Jerusalem in 70 CE. During Vespasian's reign he held important military, priestly, and governmental offices. His prominent position did not make him a co-Augustus: coins naming him as Caesar were issued while Vespasian was the reigning Augustus.

Denarii naming Titus therefore require two chronological settings. The earlier group belongs to Vespasian's reign of 69-79, with individual issues dated more narrowly by their legends and catalogue classification. Titus's own reign as Augustus ran from 79 to 81. It encompassed the eruption of Vesuvius, the fire and epidemic at Rome, and the opening of the Flavian Amphitheatre in 80.

The reverses advertise military success, divine protection, and dynastic continuity. Connections between particular sacred-furniture types and a disaster or festival remain interpretations rather than events explicitly named by the inscriptions. Issues for deified Vespasian under Titus and later commemorations of Titus belong to related but distinct portrait and issuing contexts.

Obverse Iconographic Composition

Denarii naming Titus commonly show a laureate portrait facing right, with left-facing varieties also recorded. The broad jaw, heavy facial features, clustered hair, and neck folds are characteristic of his imperial image. The treatment varies between dies and issues.

Some Caesar portraits show facial hair, including the bearded head on the Rome NEP RED type. A beard does not by itself establish ritual mourning, a specific military event, or a precise date. Portrait style should be considered together with the inscription and reverse, not used as an independent account of the ruler's intentions.

Obverse Epigraphy and Inscriptions

The Latin obverse legends distinguish offices and status. A characteristic Caesar-phase formula is:

• Lettering: T CAES IMP VESP PON TR POT
• Expansion: T[itus] Caes[ar] Imp[erator] Vesp[asianus] Pon[tifex] Tr[ibunicia] Pot[estate]
• Translation: Titus Caesar, Imperator, Vespasianus, priest, holder of tribunician power.

Here Titus is Caesar under Vespasian. IMP does not by itself make him the reigning Augustus, and PON denotes priestly membership rather than the supreme pontificate. Vespasianus is part of his name, not the Flavian nomen, which is Flavius.

A principal Augustus-phase formula is:

• Lettering: IMP TITVS CAES VESPASIAN AVG P M
• Expansion: Imp[erator] Titus Caes[ar] Vespasian[us] Aug[ustus] P[ontifex] M[aximus]
• Translation: Imperator Titus Caesar Vespasianus Augustus, chief priest.

AVG and P M distinguish the senior imperial and priestly titles. These are representative formulas, not an exhaustive inventory. Reverse tribunician, consular, and acclamation counts help date particular issues.

Reverse Iconographic Composition

The reverse repertoire crosses several chronological and iconographic groups:

1. Naval Return: NEP RED accompanies Neptune standing left, with his right foot on a globe, holding an acrostolium and a vertical sceptre. The design invokes safe return. The acrostolium is a ship's prow ornament, not necessarily a trophy taken from a captured vessel.
2. Military and Religious Types: Caesar-phase issues include Judaea victory imagery, captives, trophies, and priestly implements. These place Titus within Vespasian's dynastic and military presentation.
3. Sacred Furniture and Other Emblems: Augustus-phase reverses include a curule chair with wreath, a draped seat with winged thunderbolt, a dolphin and anchor, and an elephant shown with a patterned covering or armour. The various designs need not all represent literal sacred couches.
4. Related Consecration Types: Under Titus, issues for deified Vespasian include a column with shield and urn between laurels. The portrait on that issue is Vespasian, not Titus, even though Titus is the reigning authority.

Reverse Epigraphy and Inscriptions

Reverse epigraphy combines religious dedications with Roman imperial offices. These counts are distinct from the Egyptian regnal-year system used on Alexandrian tetradrachms.

• NEP RED, recorded on Rome issues of 72-73 CE: Nep[tuno] Red[uci], 'To Neptune who brings safely home'. The words may be divided across the field.
• TR P IX IMP XV COS VIII P P, recorded on issues of 80 CE: holder of tribunician power for the ninth time, acclaimed imperator for the fifteenth time, consul for the eighth time, Father of the Fatherland. The formula should not be stretched indiscriminately across 80-81 or applied to every late type.
• EX with S C on a shield: Ex Senatus Consulto, 'By decree of the Senate', on the related Divus Vespasian issue. Its obverse reads DIVVS AVGVSTVS VESPASIANVS.

A complete title combination is required for attribution. A consular count, a portrait, or a reverse emblem alone does not establish an exact striking date.

Typology and Documented Variants

The series is silver denarius coinage, but its denomination does not establish one universal measured weight, purity, or die axis. Individual records and analytical samples must be distinguished from theoretical standards.

• RIC II.1 (second edition), Vespasian 366, Rome, 72-73 CE: Titus Caesar, laureate head right; T CAES IMP VESP PON TR POT. Neptune stands left with foot on globe, acrostolium, and vertical sceptre; NEP RED. Vespasian is the reigning Augustus.
• RIC II.1 Vespasian 1561 / RPC II 1933, Antioch, 72 CE: A related NEP RED denarius with a laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Titus seen from behind. RPC records Titus as Caesar under Vespasian and Neptune with acrostolium and vertical sceptre.
• RIC II.1 Titus 108, Rome, 80 CE: Titus Augustus, laureate head right; curule chair with wreath above; TR P IX IMP XV COS VIII P P.
• RIC II.1 Titus 115, Rome, 80 CE: Titus Augustus, laureate head right; elephant left; TR P IX IMP XV COS VIII P P. The type is distinct from the sacred-furniture designs.
• RIC II.1 Titus 119, Rome, 80 CE: Titus Augustus, laureate head right; draped square seat with winged thunderbolt above; TR P IX IMP XV COS VIII P P.
• Related Issue, RIC II.1 Titus 359, Rome, 80-81 CE: Divus Vespasian, laureate head right; column with shield and urn between laurels. It was issued under Titus but is not a portrait denarius of Titus. A checked concordance is BMCRE II 125, p. 245.

Bust details, legend readings, and catalogue editions remain essential when comparing these families. The examples illustrate the broader Caesar and Augustus phases rather than reducing the series to one representative coin.

Scholarly Debates and Attribution Limitations

1. Sacred-Furniture Interpretation: The seats, wreaths, and divine attributes have been connected with ceremonial settings, disaster-related supplication, and the amphitheatre's inaugural celebrations. The legends do not identify a specific festival or name each divine pairing. These connections should be presented as interpretations rather than certain descriptions of a single event.

2. Neptune's Attributes: The checked Rome and eastern catalogue parallels describe a vertical sceptre. A trident should not be supplied merely because Neptune is the subject, and wear does not prove that missing prongs were originally engraved. Nor does NEP RED alone identify the exact voyage or an administrative reform of the fleets.

3. Eastern Attribution: Denarii naming Titus Caesar were struck outside Rome as well as at the principal mint. The attribution and date of each eastern group depend on its catalogue evidence. Style alone cannot establish that all non-Rome denarii came from one city.

4. Metrology and Assays: The correct Butcher-Ponting chapter for Vespasian through the early Domitianic period is pp. 321-376, not the draft's pp. 245-252 in the civil-war discussion. An assertion that every Titus denarius was 79-82% silver or struck at a uniform weight requires the relevant sample data. A universal six-o'clock axis is contradicted by documented examples at other orientations.

References

1. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Volume II, Part 1: From AD 69 to AD 96, Vespasian to Domitian (second edition). Carradice and Buttrey (2007), second edition. Linked OCRE record is a type companion, not access to all printed catalogue pages. Checked parallels include Vespasian 366 and Titus 108, 115, 119, 359.
2. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, Volume II: Vespasian to Domitian. Mattingly (1930; revised 1976). Linked institutional record confirms Divus Vespasian under Titus, RIC II.1 359, BMCRE II 125, p. 245; unchecked blanket page ranges removed.
3. The Metallurgy of Roman Silver Coinage: From the Reform of Nero to the Reform of Trajan. Butcher and Ponting (2014/2015), From Vespasian to the reform of Domitian, AD 69-82, pp. 321-376. Publisher contents verify scope and pagination; no universal Titus fineness is inferred.
4. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC II, Part 1 (second edition) Vespasian 366. Type ric.2_1(2).ves.366; checked institutional parallel HCR89147: https://hcr.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coin/hcr89147. Eastern related type: Antioch, AD 72, Titus Caesar under Vespasian, RPC II 1933, https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/2/1933.
5. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC II, Part 1 (second edition) Titus 108. Type ric.2_1(2).tit.108; checked institutional parallel: https://chre.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coin/334678, Rome, 80, curule chair and wreath.
6. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC II, Part 1 (second edition) Titus 115. Type ric.2_1(2).tit.115; checked institutional parallel: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_R-10956, Rome, 80, elephant; records a seven-o'clock axis.
7. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC II, Part 1 (second edition) Titus 119. Type ric.2_1(2).tit.119; checked institutional parallel: https://chre.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coin/311688, Rome, 80, draped seat and winged thunderbolt.
8. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC II, Part 1 (second edition) Titus 359. Type ric.2_1(2).tit.359; checked institutional parallel: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_1842-0214-60, Divus Vespasian under Titus, 80-81.
9. Ashmolean Museum: Denarius Naming Titus Caesar under Vespasian. HCR89147: Rome, 72-73, RIC II.1 Vespasian 366, bearded laureate Titus / Neptune with acrostolium and vertical sceptre. Institutional indexed text verified; direct fetch unavailable.
10. The Art Institute of Chicago: Denarius (Coin) Portraying Emperor Titus (1922.4868). Reference number 1922.4868