Titus Denarius, RIC II, Part 1 (second edition) Titus 28

Monetary Context and Imperial Policy

The emission designated as RIC II, Part 1 (second edition) Titus 28 belongs to the primary silver coinage produced upon the accession of Titus in the summer of AD 79. Following the passing of Vespasian, Titus moved swiftly to secure ideological continuity and public confidence through the mass production of the silver denarius, the backbone of commercial trade, state remuneration, and legionary pay across the empire. The Flavian monetary system continued the dimensional and metallurgical conventions established by Nero in AD 64, resisting speculative reductions in intrinsic fineness while maintaining a standard intended to support economic stability after the civil devastation of AD 68 to 69. For Titus, immediate coinage emissions fulfilled an urgent administrative requirement: distributing imperial largesse, fulfilling testamentary bequests, and guaranteeing army loyalty through prompt payments rendered in current imperial coin. By maintaining established weights and recognizable reverse types, the imperial treasury ensured broad commercial acceptance within the market economies of Rome, Italy, and the frontier provinces.

Production, Mint Organization, and Metrology

The coin was manufactured exclusively at the principal imperial mint in the city of Rome, which operated under strict administrative supervision by fiscal equestrian officers and mint masters. During this period, the Rome mint was organized into specialized workshops, or officinae, coordinating the processing of refined silver planchets, engraving of iron dies, and manual striking between paired anvils. Metrologically, Titus adhered to the Flavian denarius baseline, which targeted an average theoretical weight of approximately 3.30 to 3.40 grams, struck at an operational rate of approximately 96 coins to the Roman pound. Chemical and metallurgical assays of Flavian silver by modern scholars demonstrate a consistent silver fineness of approximately 80 to 82 percent silver, balanced with a copper alloy to ensure structural durability during circulation. Flavian die cutters worked with high artistic and technical efficiency, producing sharply defined dies with uniform beaded borders and well-aligned axes, predominantly conforming to standard Roman alignment orientations.

Obverse Typology and Imperial Portraiture

The obverse of this denarius displays the right-facing head of the emperor Titus, adorned with a laurel wreath whose ties hang behind his neck. The portraiture is rendered in the characteristic Flavian realistic style, depicting Titus with the broad facial planes, prominent jowls, and cleft chin characteristic of the Flavian family lineage, yet subtly idealizing the features to communicate sovereign authority and military command. Unlike earlier youthful portraits struck while Titus served as Caesar alongside his father, this sole-reign portraiture accentuates imperial gravity and maturity. The laurel wreath symbolizes victory, piety, and the favor of Apollo, functioning as a standard attribute of the Augustus. The die cutting exhibits meticulous detail in the treatment of the hair, structured in curled locks across the crown and down the nape, surrounded closely by the continuous titular legend within an outer border of uniform beads.

Reverse Iconography: The Rostral Column

The reverse depicts an elevated rostral column supporting a standing radiate male statue, facing forward or slightly turned, holding a vertical spear in one hand and a parazonium in the other. The shaft of the column is adorned with the projecting rostra, or naval rams of captured warships, resting upon a tiered or molded plinth. In Roman tradition, the rostral column was a venerable monument erected in the Forum to commemorate decisive maritime victories, famously instituted by Gaius Duilius in the First Punic War and re-employed by Octavian after Naulochus and Actium. Under Vespasian and Titus, the image reappeared on silver and bronze issues. The radiate figure atop the column has been interpreted alternately as an idealized portrayal of the emperor, Neptune, or a heroic manifestation of Apollo. The attribute of the parazonium, a ceremonial short sword symbolizing military virtue, paired with the spear, underscores victorious valor and the restoration of oceanic and territorial order throughout the empire.

Epigraphy and Titular Inscriptions

The obverse inscription reads IMP TITVS CAES VESPASIAN AVG P M, running clockwise from the lower left rim. This concise string of titles marks the complete transformation of Titus into supreme sovereign: Imperator as praenomen, Caesar and Vespasian establishing dynastic legitimacy, Augustus as the Augustan title of rule, and Pontifex Maximus denoting his assumption of supreme religious office. The reverse legend reads TR P VIIII IMP XIIII COS VII P P, delineating the constitutional authorities of Titus during this emission. The ninth tribunician power and fourteenth imperial acclamation combined with his seventh consulship and the title Pater Patriae firmly date the coin to the period between late June and late December of AD 79. Roman epigraphers utilized crisp, serifed lettering calibrated to fit neatly into the narrow margins of the denarius flan, demonstrating deliberate spatial planning and official consistency across die workshops.

Typology, Classification, and Chronological Placement

Catalogued definitively as RIC II, Part 1 (second edition) Titus 28, this issue is situated within the earliest group of sole-reign coins minted for Titus in AD 79. In Harold Mattingly and Edward Sydenham's original 1926 classification, the type was recorded as RIC II Titus 10, but the revised corpus by I. A. Carradice and T. V. Buttrey reorganized the chronology on the basis of systematic die linkage and epigraphic progression, establishing its place as number 28 within the primary Rome denarius sequence. The type is closely affiliated with parallel denarius issues bearing identical consular and tribunician dates that depict curule chairs, seated figures of Pax, or military trophies. Chronologically, this specific issue terminated by late December of AD 79 or the very start of AD 80, when Titus entered his eighth consulship, requiring an updated reverse legend reading COS VIII.

Circulation History, Hoard Evidence, and Survival

Denarii of this type entered broad circulation across Italy and the European and Danubian frontiers, where imperial legionary payments continuously injected metropolitan silver. Hoard evidence from Roman Britain, the Rhine frontier, and the Danubian limes reveals that Flavian denarii remained active within monetary pools for decades, surviving through the reigns of Trajan, Hadrian, and the Antonines until the severe debasements of the late second and early third centuries forced older high-purity silver into the melting pot. Archaeological contexts demonstrate varied states of wear, with early post-eruption deposits in Campania preserving crisp specimens while late Antonine hoards contain heavily worn examples. Die studies indicate that while numerous obverse and reverse dies were prepared for this issue, modern survivals are limited to representative specimens distributed across major public collections and documented find assemblages.

References

1. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, Vol. II: Vespasian to Domitian. pp. 224-226
2. The Flavian Coinage: Studies in the Reign of Titus and Domitian. pp. 45-62
3. Coinage and Finances in the Reign of Domitian: A.D. 81-96. pp. 12-28
4. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC II, Part 1 (second edition) Titus 28. Type ric.2_1(2).tit.28
5. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Vol. II, Part 1: From Vespasian to Domitian (AD 69-96), Second Revised Edition. p. 195, no. 28