Titus Silver Denarius, RIC II, Part 1 (second edition) Titus 124

Monetary Context and Historical Setting

During the reign of Titus (79 to 81 AD), the imperial silver denarius functioned as the central accounting and transactional coin throughout the Roman Mediterranean. Following the turbulent civil wars of the Year of the Four Emperors in 69 AD, the Flavian dynasty consolidated financial control by restoring disciplined mint administration and adjusting coin output to fund state administration, legionary pay, and extensive infrastructure repair. In 80 AD, Rome suffered a devastating three-day fire that destroyed large parts of the Campus Martius and the Capitoline, which occurred on the heels of the catastrophic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in late 79 AD. In response to these disasters, Titus initiated sweeping relief efforts and organized solemn expiatory ceremonies, including public lectisternia and supplicationes to appease the gods. The coinage of 80 AD served directly as an ideological and economic instrument during this crisis, paying for rebuilding programs and imperial largesse while circulating iconography intended to reassure the Roman populace of divine favor and imperial solicitude.

Production Standards and Mint Operation

This specific denarius type was produced exclusively by the imperial mint in Rome. Under the Flavians, Rome maintained centralized production for imperial precious metals, operating a multi-officina system staffed by skilled engravers, flan casters, and moneyers. Metallurgical analyses conducted by Kevin Butcher and Matthew Ponting demonstrate that denarii struck under Titus adhered closely to the post-Neronian weight and fineness standard. Struck at approximately 96 to the Roman pound, denarii of this issue targeted a mean theoretical weight near 3.25 to 3.40 grams, though normal flan variations caused individual specimens to fluctuate between roughly 2.8 and 3.6 grams. The silver fineness was typically maintained around 80 to 82 percent silver, alloyed predominantly with copper for durability. The dies were engraved in high artistic relief, utilizing manual striking techniques that frequently resulted in slight axial shifts or localized flan cracking along the perimeter.

Obverse Iconography

The obverse presents a right-facing, mature portrait of Titus wearing a laurel wreath tied at the nape of the neck. The portraiture is rendered in the characteristic realistic style of the Flavian period, conveying administrative gravitas, a broad jawline, and full facial features that visually anchor Titus to the lineage of his deified father, Vespasian. The laurel wreath symbolizes imperial authority, military triumph, and the favor of Apollo. Surrounding the portrait is the continuous legend running clockwise from the lower left, which is carefully spaced to accommodate the crown of the head without breaking the overall compositional harmony of the coin face.

Reverse Iconography and Interpretation

The reverse of RIC 124 depicts an ornately draped square seat or couch, known classical scholarship identifies as a pulvinar. The seat is covered with a draped textile hanging down in folds, and it is surmounted by a triangular backrest or pedimental structure containing three crescents. Depending on die cutting variations, the corners and apex of the triangular frame are adorned with palmettes, ears of corn, or a combination of both floral attributes. In ancient Roman religion, the pulvinar was a cushioned couch prepared for the banquet of the gods during a lectisternium, where divine statues or sacred symbols were displayed to receive offerings. While certain draped seats in the series feature thunderbolts representing Jupiter or curule chairs representing deified emperors, the three crescents framed by agricultural or floral symbols on this type are traditionally associated with Diana or Luna, evoking nighttime deities, celestial protection, and lunar renewal during a period of national distress.

Inscriptions and Epigraphic Analysis

The obverse legend reads IMP TITVS CAES VESPASIAN AVG P M, an abbreviation for Imperator Titus Caesar Vespasianus Augustus, Pontifex Maximus. This inscription proclaims his military command (Imperator), his dynastic and imperial titles (Caesar and Augustus), and his position as the supreme religious leader of Rome (Pontifex Maximus). The reverse inscription reads TR P IX IMP XV COS VIII P P, expanding to Tribunicia Potestate VIIII, Imperator XV, Consul VIII, Pater Patriae. This epigraphic sequence provides precise internal dating: Titus assumed his ninth tribunician power in July of 79 AD and entered his eighth consulship on January 1, 80 AD. The fifteenth imperatorial acclamation was awarded early in 80 AD, securely dating the manufacture of this issue to the year 80 AD. Epigraphically, the lettering is well-proportioned and executed in standard classical Roman capitals with minimal ligatures.

Typology and Chronological Classification

Within the typology established by Harold Mattingly and thoroughly revised by Ian Carradice and Theodore V. Buttrey in the second edition of Roman Imperial Coinage Volume II, Part 1, this coin is classified as type 124. It forms an integral part of Titus's prolific pulvinar series struck during his second year of rule. Minor stylistic variations exist across known dies, particularly in the rendering of the ornamental frame over the draped seat: some dies emphasize sharply defined palmettes at the corners, others exhibit distinct corn-ears, while some blend both motifs. The type was struck alongside companion denarii featuring different divine pulvinaria, such as the curule chair draped with a wreath (RIC 108) and the draped seat with a winged thunderbolt (RIC 119), all sharing the identical reverse epigraphy COS VIII and imperatorial count IMP XV.

Circulation, Hoard Evidence, and Loss

Once released from the mint at Rome, denarii of RIC 124 entered active circulation across the empire, facilitating military payrolls, municipal spending, and interprovincial trade. Flavian silver circulated with extraordinary longevity; because Domitian subsequently raised the silver standard, denarii of Titus and Vespasian were often selectively retained or hoarded, yet they remained in general circulation throughout the second century AD until the debasement under the Severan dynasty gradually drove them out of commercial use. Specimens of Titus's pulvinar series appear consistently in major Western European hoards, such as the Shapwick and Dorchester hoards in Roman Britain, as well as in limes camp deposits along the Rhine and Danube frontiers, demonstrating their broad geographic dispersion and prolonged monetary utility.

References

1. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, Volume II: Vespasian to Domitian. p. 235, nos. 58-61
2. The Metallurgy of Roman Silver Coinage: From the Reform of Nero to the Reform of Trajan. pp. 232-258
3. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC II, Part 1 (second edition) Titus 124. ric.2_1(2).tit.124
4. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Volume II, Part 1: Vespasian to Domitian (second edition). p. 206, no. 124