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

Monetary Context

The monetary landscape of the Roman Empire upon the accession of Titus in late June, AD 79, was defined by the structural reforms instituted a decade earlier under Vespasian. Following the ruinous fiscal depletion and civil strife of the Year of the Four Emperors in AD 68-69, the Flavian regime had systematically rehabilitated the imperial treasury, standardizing the silver denarius to an average weight of approximately 3.2 to 3.3 grams and maintaining a fineness of roughly 80 to 85 percent silver. The denarius served as the operational backbone of imperial state finance, facilitating state expenditures, tax extractions, and above all, the regular remuneration of legionary and auxiliary troops stationed across the frontiers. When Vespasian died on June 23, AD 79, Titus assumed sole executive power as Augustus. It was imperative for the new regime to announce the orderly transfer of power immediately across the monetary networks of the empire. New denarii carrying Titus's newly elevated imperial titles were rushed into production to meet daily treasury disbursements and provide physical evidence of political stability. By pairing the traditional silver denomination with evocative military imagery, the state reinforced public and military faith in the purchasing power of the currency while simultaneously reaffirming the Flavian dynasty's founding claim to rule through victorious generalship.

Production and Mints

All attested specimens of the denarius classified under RIC II, Part 1 (second edition) Titus 1 originate from the primary imperial mint situated at Rome. Under the early Flavians, western branch mints such as Lugdunum had ceased routine denarius production, leaving the capital as the undisputed manufacturing hub for the empire's precious-metal coinage. At the Rome mint, master engravers prepared paired iron dies with characteristic Flavian realism, carving portraits of high relief and compact, balanced lettering. Flans were cast in molds or cut from poured silver rods, heated to achieve ductility, and struck manually between an obverse die fixed in an anvil and a reverse die held in a handheld punch. Surviving examples demonstrate the typical technical characteristics of the Rome mint in this period, including carefully calibrated die axes, predominantly oriented at six o'clock or twelve o'clock, and neat circular die borders composed of fine beading. The strict oversight of the imperial monetarii ensured uniform weight tolerances across production runs, though minor variations in flan thickness and strike centering are common among preserved coins.

Obverse Design and Portraiture

The obverse of RIC II, Part 1 (second edition) Titus 1 presents a right-facing, laureate head of Titus. The portraiture is rendered in the distinctive Flavian veristic tradition, reflecting both physical accuracy and dynastic lineage. Titus is portrayed with a robust, broad cranium, a heavy jawline, prominent jowls, and a short, fleshy neck, features that intentionally echo the familiar facial morphology of his deceased father, Vespasian. The imperial laurel wreath, tied at the back of the head with two pendent ribbons resting against the nape, functions as an explicit symbol of triumph and sovereign status. Engravers at the Rome mint captured the features of the thirty-nine-year-old emperor with considerable vitality, eschewing the idealized classicism of the Julio-Claudian era in favor of a stern, capable military commander whose visual affinity with Vespasian offered an immediate reassurance of continuity and stability to the Roman populace.

Reverse Iconography and Symbolism

The reverse type displays a male captive kneeling on the ground in front of an upright military trophy. The captive is depicted in an attitude of total subjection, positioned to the right of the trophy or turned toward it, with hands frequently bound behind his back. The trophy itself consists of a wooden armature clad in captured armor, including a cuirass, a crested helmet at the apex, crossed greaves, and flanking shields, evoking the spoils stripped from a vanquished adversary. This iconography belongs squarely to the celebrated Judaea Capta repertoire, which had been struck across all denominations since AD 71 to commemorate the suppression of the Jewish revolt and the capture of Jerusalem, a campaign conducted directly under the command of Titus. By placing a subjugated barbarian captive beneath an imposing Roman trophy on one of the very first denarius types of his sole reign, Titus explicitly reminded the empire that his authority rested upon demonstrable military achievement, divine favor, and the pacification of the eastern provinces.

Epigraphy and Legends

The inscriptions on RIC II, Part 1 (second edition) Titus 1 are executed in clean, well-proportioned Roman square capitals running clockwise along the coin margins. The obverse legend reads IMP T CAESAR VESPASIANVS AVG, an abbreviated epigraphic formula expressing the newly consolidated titles of the ruler. Here, 'IMP' serves as the praenomen imperatoris, followed by the praenomen 'T' for Titus, the dynastic designation 'CAESAR', the family cognomen 'VESPASIANVS' inherited directly from his father, and the definitive supreme title 'AVG' for Augustus. The reverse legend is strictly administrative and chronological, reading TR POT VIII COS VII. This formula records Titus's eighth tenure of the tribunician power ('TR POT VIII', for tribunicia potestate octavum) alongside his seventh consulship ('COS VII', for consule septimum), which he entered on January 1, AD 79, as junior colleague to Vespasian. The absence of additional honorific titles such as Pater Patriae reflects the very early date of this issue, as such titles were commonly conferred or formally accepted weeks or months after the initial accession.

Typology and Chronological Sequence

In the revised classification of Roman Imperial Coinage, Volume II, Part 1, this specific denarius stands as catalogue number 1 under the reign of Titus as Augustus, reflecting its status as one of the inaugural issues of his sole rule. The chronological boundary of the coin is tightly constrained by the epigraphic notation TR POT VIII. Titus first received the tribunicia potestas on July 1, AD 71, meaning that his eighth annual renewal commenced on July 1, AD 78, and concluded on June 30, AD 79. Because Vespasian died on June 23, AD 79, the formal pairing of Titus's full imperial titulature (IMP T CAESAR VESPASIANVS AVG) with TR POT VIII theoretically defines an issue window of only about one week, between June 24 and June 30, AD 79. Numismatists recognize, however, that mint dies bearing the previous tribunician number may have continued in use for a brief transitional span into early July AD 79 before new reverse dies inscribed TR P IX were prepared and introduced. As a result, RIC II, Part 1 (second edition) Titus 1 is an exceptionally brief transitional emission, quickly superseded by the far more prolific issues bearing TR P IX COS VII.

Circulation, Hoard Evidence, and Survival

Despite its remarkably brief window of manufacture at the mint of Rome, the denarius of RIC II, Part 1 (second edition) Titus 1 entered the general monetary circulation of the Roman world, mingling seamlessly with the vast volume of currency produced under Vespasian. The coin is occasionally recorded in imperial hoards deposited across the western provinces, including Roman Britain, the Rhine frontier, and the Danubian limes, where military pay maintained a high velocity of silver coin movement. Because the Flavian silver standard remained largely consistent from AD 70 through the reign of Domitian, these denarii continued to circulate for several decades, gradually accumulating surface wear until Trajan's systematic demonetization and melting of worn pre-Neronian and Flavian silver around AD 107. Due to the limited original mintage dictated by its brief striking window, this specific type survives in modern public and private collections in significantly fewer specimens than subsequent issues of Titus bearing TR P IX, making it an invaluable chronological benchmark for the transition between Flavian principates.

References

1. Vespasian's Consecratio and the Curious Dates of Titus's Undated Issues. Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte 21 (1972), pp. 700-716
2. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, Volume II: Vespasian to Domitian. pp. 223-225
3. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC II, Part 1 (second edition) Titus 1. ric.2_1(2).tit.1
4. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Volume II, Part 1: From AD 69 to AD 96: Vespasian to Domitian (Second Fully Revised Edition). pp. 187-195, no. 1