Trajan Orichalcum Dupondius RIC II Trajan 428

Monetary Context and Denominational Function

Under the monetary system established during the Augustan reforms and continued into the High Empire, the dupondius stood as an indispensable middle denomination within the daily economy of Rome and its provinces. Valued at two asses, eight quadrantes, or half a brass sestertius, the dupondius occupied an intermediary tier between the high-value silver denarius (worth eight dupondii) and the fractional copper currency that facilitated everyday small-scale retail trade. While silver denarii met state obligations such as military pay, official stipends, and major tax payments, base-metal brass and copper coinages bore the brunt of daily urban commerce in food markets, taverns, and local civic contracts. Throughout the late first and early second centuries AD, Roman monetary authorities maintained a dual-metal base coinage structure. While the sestertius and dupondius were manufactured from orichalcum (a bright golden-hued zinc-copper brass alloy), the as and quadrans were ordinarily struck in refined red copper. Because physical wear and environmental patination could obscure the visual distinction between yellow brass and red copper, imperial authorities reinforced the identity of the dupondius through obverse portrait convention. The radiate crown, originally associated with the solar attributes of Sol and the deified imperial cult, functioned as an unambiguous denominational marker designating the double value of the piece relative to the laureate as. RIC II Trajan 428 conforms directly to this imperial standard, providing merchants and consumers with immediate visual clarification of its value in monetary circulation.

Mint Organization and Production Technology

The entire regular production of RIC II Trajan 428 took place at the primary imperial mint in the capital city of Rome. Operating under the administrative oversight of the imperial equestrian bureaucracy and the traditional senatorial board of moneyers, the Rome mint produced colossal quantities of aes coinage during the early years of Trajan's reign to support administrative expenditures and public works, as well as the fiscal demands of the imperial armies gathering along the Danube. Orichalcum flans were cast in open or two-part gang moulds before being struck between engraved iron dies. The zinc content of second-century Roman brass fluctuated over time, typically ranging between ten and twenty percent zinc during this period as recycled metal and fresh calamine ore were blended in crucibles. Metallurgical analysis reveals that imperial mint workers heated base-metal flans prior to striking to improve metal flow into the deeply carved recesses of the obverse portrait dies. The striking process utilized manual sledgehammers striking the upper reverse die, positioned over a lower obverse die firmly set in an anvil base. Weight standards for the dupondius during Trajan's early reign typically targeted a theoretical median between 11.5 and 13.5 grams, with typical diameters hovering between 26 and 28 millimeters, though deliberate mint tolerance ranges and post-striking adjustments permitted notable variation around the central norm.

Obverse Iconography and Imperial Portraiture

The obverse die design of RIC II Trajan 428 presents a striking portrait bust of the emperor Trajan facing right, crowned with the radiate spikes of the solar corona. The portrait style reflects the sober, realist idiom characteristic of Trajan's early reign, consciously breaking from the elaborate, baroque conventions of Flavian imperial portraiture in favor of a stern, disciplined appearance reminiscent of Republican verism and the Julio-Claudian princeps. The emperor is shown with clean-shaven cheeks, a firm and squarish jawline, a prominent nose, and neatly combed straight hair falling across his forehead. Engravers executed the radiate crown with sharp, triangular rays extending outward from a circular headband, framing the cranium without fully masking the structure of the imperial hair. As with most dupondii of this specific catalogue entry, the portrait terminates cleanly at the base of the neck or features slight drapery truncation at the bust line. Die cutters demonstrated exceptional technical mastery in modelling the planar transitions of the facial musculature, capturing the determined expression of the military commander at the onset of his first major external campaigns.

Reverse Iconography and Symbolic Program

The reverse of RIC II Trajan 428 depicts Abundantia, the divine personification of civic abundance, agricultural bounty, and imperial supply, seated facing left. The figure is comfortably positioned upon an elaborately conceived curule-style chair or throne, the legs and frame of which are formed by two crossed cornucopiae. In her right hand, Abundantia holds an upright or slightly angled sceptre, signifying divine dignity and administrative authority, while her left arm and drapery rest calmly upon the horn structure of the seat. Flanking the seated figure in the lower fields are the large letters S and C, denoting Senatus Consulto. The iconographical choice of Abundantia seated upon cornucopiae carried deep ideological resonance during AD 101 and 102. As the Roman state mobilized extensive manpower, logistical supplies, and grain reserves for the First Dacian War, the imperial court sought to reassure the population of the capital and the Italian peninsula that military actions across the northern frontier would not compromise the grain supply (annona) or domestic prosperity. The cornucopiae chair explicitly connected the emperor's successful governance with an unending flow of wealth and material sustenance.

Epigraphy and Titular Legends

The inscriptions on RIC II Trajan 428 are engraved in standard Roman monumental capitals, arranged in a continuous perimeter band along the inner raised border of each face. The obverse legend reads IMP CAES NERVA TRAIAN AVG GERM P M, expanding in full Latin to Imperator Caesar Nerva Traianus Augustus Germanicus, Pontifex Maximus. This comprehensive titular sequence opens with the military acclamation Imperator, emphasizes Trajan's legitimate adoption by the divine Nerva, incorporates his victory title Germanicus awarded under Nerva in AD 97, and confirms his supreme religious office as Pontifex Maximus. The reverse legend completes the constitutional formula around the upper circumference: TR POT COS IIII P P, expanding to Tribunicia Potestate, Consul Quartum, Pater Patriae. This records Trajan's tribunician authority, his fourth consulship, and his formal title as Father of the Country. In the lower field, flanking the seated personification, stands the senatorial mark S C (Senatus Consulto), attesting to the constitutional cooperation between the emperor and the Roman Senate in authorizing the production and circulation of aes coinage.

Typology and Chronological Classification

In the standard classification systems of Roman imperial numismatics, RIC II Trajan 428 is definitively assigned to Trajan's fourth consular period between AD 101 and 102. The presence of COS IIII provides an absolute terminus post quem of January 1, AD 101, when Trajan entered his fourth consulship. The absence of the fifth consulship (COS V), which Trajan assumed on January 1, AD 103, establishes a secure terminus ante quem at the close of AD 102. Furthermore, the absence of the victory title Dacicus, officially awarded late in AD 102 following his victories over Decebalus, confirms that dies bearing this exact legend combination were prepared and struck during the initial phases of the conflict. In Bernhard Woytek's comprehensive corpus of Trajanic coinage (Die Reichsprägung des Kaisers Traianus, MIR 14), this dupondius type belongs to the concentrated base-metal issues of his second major mint period. Within this typology, RIC II Trajan 428 stands distinct from contemporaneous sestertii and asses featuring identical reverse personifications, as well as later iterations of the seated Abundantia motif where the emperor's titulature incorporates Dacicus or subsequent consular designations.

Circulation Patterns and Archaeological Context

Dupondii struck at Rome during the fourth consulship of Trajan circulated extensively throughout the western and central provinces of the Roman Empire. Archaeological excavation data and coin-hoard documentation demonstrate that base-metal issues bearing the early titles of Trajan were rapidly integrated into existing currency pools across Italy, the Iberian peninsula, Gaul, the German frontiers, and the military camps along the middle and lower Danube. Because base-metal coinage enjoyed a slower physical velocity of turnover and much longer survival in active circulation than fine silver denarii, specimens of RIC II Trajan 428 frequently remained in circulation for decades. Excavations along the Upper Germanic-Rhaetian Limes and in legionary fortresses established during the Dacian campaigns routinely yield Trajanic dupondii displaying heavy secondary wear, countermarks, or soil corrosion consistent with prolonged use well into the Antonine period. By contrast, eastern Mediterranean provinces relied predominantly on local Greek imperial bronze coinages, meaning that specimens of this Rome-mint issue recovered in the Levant or Egypt represent secondary movements via administrative, merchant, or legionary transfers rather than primary supply.

References

1. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, Volume III: Nerva to Hadrian. pp. 165-170
2. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC II Trajan 428. ric.2.tr.428
3. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Volume II: Vespasian to Hadrian. p. 276, no. 428
4. Die Reichsprägung des Kaisers Traianus (98–117). Moneta Imperii Romani 14