Trajan Bronze Quadrans RIC II Trajan 702

Monetary and Economic Context

Within the reformed monetary system established by Augustus and maintained through the high empire, the quadrans represented the lowest circulating denominational unit of official imperial coinage. Struck in copper alloy or orichalcum depending on the era, one quadrans was valued at one-quarter of an as, one-sixteenth of a sestertius, and one sixty-fourth of a silver denarius. Such fractional base-metal coins were indispensable for micro-transactions, small change in street markets, public bath fees, and daily food purchases. Under Trajan, the quadrans occupied an unusual institutional position: while major denominations displayed detailed imperial portraiture and extensive topical propaganda reflecting military campaigns or infrastructure, the quadrantes often preserved older iconographic conventions. RIC II Trajan 702 formed part of this traditional fractional production, offering an easily recognized physical currency for daily exchange without the elaborate titular narratives found on heavier bronze issues.

Production and Mint Organization

The entire production of RIC II Trajan 702 is attributed securely to the imperial mint situated in the city of Rome. Base-metal small fractions were produced in massive batches by striking pre-formed cast blanks between engraved upper and lower dies. Due to the diminutive size of quadrans flans, which measure roughly 15 to 17 millimeters in diameter, die cutting required concise execution. Flans were often struck with rapid manual hammering, resulting in moderate variations in planchet thickness, centering, and flan irregularity. Metallurgical studies of Trajanic small bronzes indicate variations in base-metal alloys, ranging from pure copper to mixed bronze alloys containing lead or tin impurities. Although produced in the capital, the mint ensured standardized weight control, with typical specimens clustering in the 2.5 to 3.5 gram bracket, though broader deviations occurred routinely in fractional aes production.

Obverse Design and Iconography

The obverse of RIC II Trajan 702 departs from standard imperial practice by presenting an idealized heroic bust rather than an imperial portrait. The die presents the bust of Hercules facing right. Hercules is shown wearing a diadem across his hair and draped with the skin of the Nemean lion, often tied at the neck or wrapped over the shoulder. Hercules enjoyed immense popularity under Trajan, who associated his own virtues of labor, military fortitude, and cosmic order with the hero-god. By adopting the Herculean motif on fractional currency, the issue echoed both traditional Republican bronze types and the personal ideology of Trajan, who was frequently celebrated as a terrestrial Hercules completing monumental labors for the empire.

Reverse Design and Heraldry

The reverse of RIC II Trajan 702 displays a wild boar advancing to the right with its snout lowered toward the ground. The boar is rendered in a realistic, muscular posture, symbolic of ferocity, wild strength, and martial hunt. In Roman artistic and religious traditions, the boar appeared in connection with heroic hunts, such as the Calydonian boar myth associated with Hercules, and also served as a military emblem for specific Roman legions, notably Legio X Fretensis. Positioned across the lower field or in the exergue are the large letters S C, signifying Senatus Consulto. This explicit senatorial sanction remained a formal hallmark on imperial base-metal coinage struck at Rome, affirming the traditional collaboration between the Princeps and the Roman Senate in issuing aes currency.

Epigraphy and Legends

The legends on RIC II Trajan 702 are deliberately succinct due to the restricted surface area of the flan. The obverse displays the circular inscription IMP CAES TRAIAN AVG GERM, reading continuously along the outer border. This legend renders the emperor's titles: Imperator Caesar Traianus Augustus Germanicus. The absence of later titles such as Dacicus, Parthicus, or Optimus within this specific type formula presents an interesting epigraphic puzzle, as the broad chronology of the issue is placed late in Trajan's reign (AD 114-117) by major corpora, though earlier uses of restricted titles on small fractions were common. The reverse carries only the abbreviation S C (Senatus Consulto), placed prominently to authenticate the coin as legal public tender backed by senatorial decree.

Typology and Chronological Classification

Within modern reference systems, this coin is classified as RIC II Trajan 702, documented in Mattingly and Sydenham's Roman Imperial Coinage and updated in Bernhard Woytek's Die Reichsprägung des Kaisers Traianus under the broad framework of Trajanic small aes. Scholars have debated the exact chronological parameters of Trajan's anepigraphic or short-legend quadrantes. While older classification schemes grouped them toward the final years of the reign (AD 114 to 117), other analyses suggest that several quadrans issues featuring Hercules and animal devices may have been struck earlier, or periodically over an extended timeframe, to meet steady local demand for small change. RIC II Trajan 702 remains distinguished from parallel issues, such as RIC II 701 or 703, by the specific combination of the diademed, lion-skin draped bust of Hercules right and the boar right.

Circulation and Archaeological Finds

Because of its low monetary value and base-metal fabric, RIC II Trajan 702 had a circulation pattern largely concentrated in central Italy and select military and urban hubs in the western provinces. Quadrantes were rarely transported over long distances in significant quantities, as they were not used for state payments, military payrolls, or inter-provincial commerce. Instead, archaeological recoveries from excavations at Rome, Ostia, and Italian settlement sites demonstrate that these coins circulated intensely in local markets, often remaining in active use for decades until their surfaces were severely worn. Hoards containing quadrantes are exceptionally rare compared to silver denarii or large bronze sestertii, meaning modern knowledge of the issue relies heavily on site finds, river deposits, and stratified urban layers.

References

1. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, Volume III: Nerva to Hadrian. Trajan, Quadrantes
2. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Volume II: Vespasian to Hadrian. p. 293, no. 702
3. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC II Trajan 702. ric.2.tr.702
4. Die Reichsprägung des Kaisers Traianus (98-117 n. Chr.) (MIR 14). Moneta Imperii Romani 14