Trajan Orichalcum Sestertius, RIC II Trajan 564

Monetary Context and Denominational Role

The sestertius served as the cornerstone of everyday commercial liquidity and civic accounting throughout the High Roman Empire. Struck from orichalcum, a copper-zinc alloy commonly referred to as brass, the denomination possessed an intrinsic tariff of four asses or two dupondii, and four sestertii comprised one silver denarius. Because of its large module and substantial surface area, the sestertius was universally favored by the imperial administration as an expansive canvas for state propaganda, dynastic messaging, and military announcements. In the early second century AD, the Roman monetary system absorbed unprecedented quantities of precious metals and wealth following the conquest of the Dacian kingdom by Trajan. The influx of Dacian gold and silver stabilized imperial finances, funded expansive public building campaigns across Rome, and supported an extensive reminting program. Concurrently, the central mint in Rome accelerated the production of base-metal coinage to facilitate domestic trade, military payments, and large-scale public distributions. RIC II Trajan 564 fits squarely within this monumental monetary wave, encapsulating the ideological narrative of imperial expansion and peace secured through total victory.

Mint and Production Techniques

The manufacture of RIC II Trajan 564 was executed exclusively at the imperial mint in Rome, which maintained a near-monopoly on the striking of regular senatorial bronze and orichalcum denominations for the western empire. Orichalcum blanks for the sestertius were cast in open or two-part molds before being carefully trimmed and prepared for hot striking. The alloy typically featured a zinc content between twelve and eighteen percent during this period, granting fresh coins a brilliant golden sheen that sharply distinguished them from the reddish copper asses. Die production at Rome during the middle of Trajan's reign exhibited exceptional sculptural mastery, characterized by clean lettering, expressive facial modelling, and intricate renditions of military hardware. Coin dies were hand-cut by master engravers using iron chisels, gravers, and drills. Upper and lower dies were struck by heavy hammers, often generating coins with an average weight falling between twenty-four and twenty-eight grams, with a typical diameter ranging between thirty-two and thirty-five millimeters. Die axis alignments in this series typically conform to regular upright or inverted vertical alignments, although slight rotational variations are common across surviving specimens.

Obverse Imagery and Iconography

The obverse of RIC II Trajan 564 features a right-facing portrait of Trajan wearing a laurel wreath, tied at the back of the head with ribbons extending down his neck. The portrait embodies the sober, veristic aesthetic that defined Trajanic imperial portraiture, departing deliberately from the flamboyant hairstyles and idealized features of the Flavian dynasty. The emperor is rendered with a prominent, straight nose, a low, flat forehead, closely cropped hair brushed forward across the brow, and firm, compressed lips that convey military resolve and civic restraint. The truncation of the neck is typically bare, though minor drapery variants occasionally appear on related issues of the same period. The laurel wreath symbolizes victorious imperium, directly honoring the sovereign as commander-in-chief of the Roman legions. The design is framed along the outer edge by a neat pelleted or beaded border, encircling the imperial titles.

Reverse Iconography and Cultural Meaning

The reverse iconography presents an explicit tableau of Roman triumphalism over Dacia. The central figure is Dacia personified, portrayed as a mourning female captive seated leftward upon a heap of captured enemy equipment, most prominently featuring the distinctive curved, oblong Dacian shield. She rests her head upon her hand or sits in a posture of profound dejection, a traditional Hellenistic and Roman artistic convention for conquered provinces. Before her on the left stands an erected Roman trophy composed of captured native armor, shields, and crossed spears or curved swords (falces) mounted upon a wooden trunk. In the field flanking the design, the large letters S C appear, validating the issue under senatorial decree. This composition directly celebrates the conclusion of the Dacian campaigns, contrasting the unyielding uprightness of the Roman trophy with the slumped, defeated posture of the barbarian captive. It reassured citizens and senatorial elites alike that the northern frontier was secure, barbarians had been pacified, and the Roman state stood triumphant.

Epigraphy and Titulature

The inscriptions on RIC II Trajan 564 provide critical legal, political, and chronological data. The obverse legend reads IMP CAES NERVAE TRAIANO AVG GER DAC P M TR P COS V P P, expanding to Imperatori Caesari Nervae Traiano Augusto Germanico Dacico, Pontifici Maximo, Tribunicia Potestate, Consuli Quintum, Patri Patriae. This sequence demonstrates that the issue postdates Trajan's assumption of the title Dacicus in late AD 102 and reflects his fifth consulship, entered on January 1, AD 103. The reverse legend reads S P Q R OPTIMO PRINCIPI, followed by S C (Senatus Consulto) in the field. The phrase Senatus Populusque Romanus Optimo Principi translates to 'The Senate and the Roman People, to the Best Prince.' This senatorial honorific title, Optimo Principi, came into regular use on imperial coinage from approximately AD 103 onward, highlighting the harmonious relationship between the Senate and the Princeps. Epigraphically, the letters are executed in classic lapidary Roman capitals with well-defined serifs and consistent interpuncts.

Typology and Chronological Placement

In the standard reference corpus of Mattingly and Sydenham, RIC II Trajan 564 is situated among the vast group of bronze and orichalcum coins bearing Trajan's fifth consulship (COS V), spanning from AD 103 to 111. In Bernhard Woytek's refined study of Trajan's imperial coinage, Die Reichsprägung des Kaisers Traianus, the sestertii featuring Dacia seated before a trophy are chronologically organized into distinct emissions corresponding to the Second Dacian War (AD 105 to 106) and the immediate post-war victory celebrations (AD 107 to 110). While earlier catalogs lumped COS V issues into a single undifferentiated block, stylistic analysis of portrait developments, bust truncations, and die links indicates that this specific reverse type achieved its peak production following the definitive fall of Sarmizegetusa and the creation of the province of Dacia in AD 106. Minor variations in the arrangement of the pile of arms, the presence or absence of the Dacian carnyx or falx, and subtle alterations in Trajan's portrait drape delineate sub-varieties within this primary catalogue type.

Circulation Patterns and Archaeological Context

As heavy brass coins, sestertii like RIC II Trajan 564 circulated widely across the European, North African, and Danubian provinces of the empire. Hoard evidence and archaeological findspots from Roman military camps on the Rhine and Danube frontiers demonstrate that Trajan's base-metal coins were transported in volume to garrison towns, where soldiers were paid in coin that quickly entered local civilian markets. Due to the high purchasing power of a single sestertius compared to smaller quadrantes or asses, these coins frequently remained in active circulation for decades. Many surviving examples show extensive surface wear, patination, and countermarking from subsequent decades of circulation, remaining in monetary transactions well into the reigns of Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. Their widespread distribution served not only practical commercial functions but also cemented the collective memory of Trajan's northern conquests across generations of Roman provincial subjects.

References

1. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC II Trajan 564. ric.2.tr.564
2. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Volume II: Vespasian to Hadrian. p. 284, no. 564
3. Untersuchungen zur römischen Reichsprägung des zweiten Jahrhunderts, Teil I: Die Reichsprägung zur Zeit des Traian. pp. 110-125
4. Die Reichsprägung des Kaisers Traianus (98-117). MIR 14