Trajan Bronze As RIC II Trajan 647

Monetary and Economic Context

During the High Roman Empire, the as functioned as the standard unit of day-to-day petty cash, enabling retail trade, small marketplace purchases, and daily wage disbursements. While the silver denarius handled military pay, official salaries, and inter-regional commerce, base-metal coinage served as the essential grease of the internal domestic economy. Under the reforms established by Augustus and maintained through the early second century AD, the bronze as was valued at one-fourth of a brass sestertius and one-sixteenth of a silver denarius. In the twilight years of Trajan's reign, the Roman monetary system was operating under the immense financial strain and logistical redirection brought about by the eastern campaigns against Parthia. Substantial quantities of silver denarii and gold aurei flowed eastward to supply the legions in Armenia, Mesopotamia, and northern Syria. Concurrently, the municipal economy of Rome and the Italian peninsula demanded an uninterrupted supply of fractional denominations to prevent liquidity shortages. Coins like RIC II Trajan 647 met this administrative necessity, ensuring that routine urban trade retained confidence through the familiar weight and standard senatorial endorsement of the bronze as. Its production also allowed the imperial administration to broadcast Trajan's eastern victories directly to the civilian population who handled low-value bronze daily.

Production and Mint Organization

The manufacture of RIC II Trajan 647 is securely assigned to the principal imperial mint situated in Rome. Operating under the oversight of the tresviri aere argento auro flando feriundo and imperial freedmen, the Rome mint was divided into distinct workshops or officinae capable of synchronizing die cutting, blank preparation, and striking across multiple denominations. For bronze asses, blanks were cast in molds and trimmed prior to hot striking between hand-carved steel or bronze dies. The metallic composition for the denomination at this date typically comprised relatively unalloyed copper or a low-tin bronze, distinguishing the as from the bright yellow orichalcum used for the sestertius and dupondius. The presence of a radiate bust on this type presents an interesting numismatic question. While the radiate crown traditionally denoted the double-denomination dupondius during the Flavian and earlier Trajanic periods, cataloguers including Mattingly and Sydenham in RIC II noted instances of radiate portraits assigned to the as standard based on flan diameter, metal colour, and weight clustering, while other numismatists have debated whether certain radiate oak-wreath pieces represent under-weight dupondii or deliberate radiate asses. Metallurgical analysis and comprehensive flan surveys in Bernhard Woytek's Die Reichspragung des Kaisers Traianus have refined our understanding of these late Trajanic bronze workshops, demonstrating sophisticated logistical control over flan thickness and strike quality despite the immense output demanded by ongoing warfare.

Obverse Iconography and Imperial Imagery

The obverse of RIC II Trajan 647 features a dignified, mature portrait of Trajan facing right. The emperor is depicted wearing a radiate crown, whose projecting rays evoke the solar attributes of Sol and Helios, a motif that emphasized divine favor, sovereign majesty, and perpetual renewal. The bust is carefully draped over the shoulders, presenting the princeps as both a military commander and a civil magistrate. Die engravers at Rome rendered Trajan's likeness with characteristic late-reign naturalism: the profile reveals a prominent aquiline nose, firm jawline, straight bangs combed neatly across the forehead, and subtle facial lines that reflect advanced age and the physical burdens of decades of campaigning. Unlike the idealized youthfulness seen in early imperial portraiture, Trajan's late iconography conveyed seasoned authority, steadiness, and military resolve. The radiant crown frames the head sharply, creating a strong visual contrast against the circular legend running along the border of dots.

Reverse Design and Civic Symbolism

The reverse design of the type is dominated by a prominent oak-wreath enclosing the central letters S C, an abbreviation for Senatus Consulto. The oak wreath, known in Roman tradition as the corona civica, held profound ideological resonance dating back to the Republican era and the Augustan foundation. Historically awarded to a soldier who saved the life of a fellow Roman citizen in battle, the corona civica was voted by the Senate to emperors to honor their role as the ultimate protector and preserver of the Roman citizenry. By placing the senatorial formula S C directly within this civic foliage, the coin design visually celebrates the harmonious relationship between the emperor and the Senate. The leaves of the oak are rendered with detailed foliage and acorns, tied together at the base with fluttering ribbon ties. In contrast to martial reverse types of the same period that depict captive Parthians, trophies, or walking personifications of Victory, this design turns inward toward the traditional constitutional fabric of the Roman state, asserting that imperial conquests abroad directly served to safeguard the citizens at home.

Epigraphy and Imperial Titulature

The inscriptions on RIC II Trajan 647 provide a precise epigraphic record of Trajan's official constitutional titles near the end of his life. The obverse legend reads IMP CAES NER TRAIANO OPTIMO AVG GERM, standing for Imperatori Caesari Nervae Traiano Optimo Augusto Germanico. Here, the titles reflect his adoptive lineage from Nerva, his widespread military acclamation as Germanicus, and the formal cognomen Optimus, which had been conferred by the Senate in AD 114 to recognize him as the best of rulers. The reverse continues this comprehensive titulature with DAC PARTHICO P M TR POT XX COS VI P P, expanding to Dacico Parthico Pontifici Maximo Tribunicia Potestate XX Consuli VI Patri Patriae. This sequence records his hard-won titles Dacicus and Parthicus, his position as chief priest of the state religion, his twentieth renewal of tribunician power, his sixth consulship, and his status as Father of the Country. The central reverse abbreviation S C reiterates that the bronze coinage was struck under senatorial decree, preserving the classical Augustan division of monetary authority. The lettering is rendered in sharp, classical Roman capitals, displaying even spacing and consistent letterforms characteristic of skilled Rome mint die-sinkers.

Typology and Chronological Classification

In the standard classification of The Roman Imperial Coinage, this coin is designated as RIC II Trajan 647. The chronological placement of the issue is determined by the explicit mention of TR POT XX, the twentieth iteration of Trajan's tribunician power, in conjunction with the victory title Parthicus. Trajan assumed his twentieth tribunician power in late AD 115 or early 116, running into AD 117, while the title Parthicus was accepted in early AD 116 following the capture of Ctesiphon. Consequently, the type can be securely dated between AD 116 and the emperor's death in August AD 117. Within Bernhard Woytek's modern corpus Die Reichspragung des Kaisers Traianus, these late oak-wreath bronze issues are carefully catalogued alongside their precious-metal counterparts, illustrating the systemic update of legends across all denominations to integrate the Parthian triumph. While RIC II catalogued this specific radiate entry as an as, modern numismatic discussions frequently cross-reference parallel dupondii sharing identical legends and reverse iconography, highlighting the continuum of wreath-and-SC reverse types struck during the final months of Trajan's principate.

Circulation Patterns and Archaeological Evidence

Bronze asses from the late reign of Trajan enjoyed widespread and prolonged circulation throughout the western provinces of the Roman Empire, as well as in the Italian heartland. Excavation finds across Roman Britain, Gaul, the Rhine frontier, and the Danubian provinces regularly yield bronze asses bearing Trajanic titles, testifying to the vast geographic reach of Rome's central base-metal output. Because copper-alloy fractional coins circulated locally and had relatively low intrinsic bullion value, they often remained in active commercial use for several decades, frequently circulating alongside earlier Flavian and later Hadrianic or Antonine issues until worn nearly smooth. Hoard evidence and site finds from military installations along the German limes and in Dacia confirm that asses were vital for daily provisioning, soldiers' sundries, and local market duties. The durable fabric and clear imperial imagery of types such as RIC II Trajan 647 meant that even when the finer details of the oak wreath or facial features were reduced by long abrasion, the recognizable radiate portrait and distinct S C remained legible to ordinary users across the empire.

References

1. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, Vol. III: Nerva to Hadrian. Trajan, Bronze
2. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Vol. II: Vespasian to Hadrian. p. 288, no. 647
3. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC II Trajan 647. ric.2.tr.647
4. Die Reichspragung des Kaisers Traianus (98-117) (Moneta Imperii Romani 14). MIR 14