Trajan Gold Aureus, RIC II Trajan 109

Monetary Context and Fiscal Policy

The reign of Trajan (AD 98 to 117) marked a profound period of transformation for the Roman monetary system, supported in large part by the vast influx of gold and silver bullion acquired during the Dacian campaigns. Following the conclusion of the Dacian Wars, the Roman treasury benefited from captured Dacian royal reserves and the rich gold mines of Transylvania. This unprecedented influx permitted a major expansion of gold striking at the central mint in Rome without compromising the intrinsic purity of the aureus. Under the Julio-Claudian reform of Nero in AD 64, the aureus had been established at roughly 1/45th of a Roman pound (approximately 7.28 grams), a weight standard that Trajan maintained with remarkable consistency. Gold aurei served as the primary instrument for large-scale commerce, military pay, imperial donatives, and state treasury reserves. In this financial environment, the issue of RIC II Trajan 109 functioned not only as an efficient store of wealth, but also as a vehicle to promote the regime's ideological message of imperial prosperity, agricultural fertility, and civic peace under the guidance of the princeps.

Production and Mint Organization

RIC II Trajan 109 was produced exclusively at the imperial mint in Rome, which operated under the administrative oversight of the imperial equestrian bureaucracy and the traditional senatorial board of tresviri monetales. By the opening decade of the second century AD, the Rome mint had achieved a sophisticated level of organization, operating through distinct workshops (officinae) responsible for cutting dies, preparing flans, and striking coin blanks in both precious and base metals. Aureus blanks were carefully cast and adjusted to maintain strict adherence to the target weight standard, minimizing deviations to ensure public trust in the state's premier denomination. Engravers at Rome demonstrated a refined classicizing style during this period, executing high-relief dies with crisp lettering and naturalistic anatomical modeling. Dies were manually aligned, typically following a regular vertical or near-vertical die axis (six o'clock or twelve o'clock), though minor variations occur as a natural consequence of manual striking.

Obverse Design and Portraiture

The obverse of RIC II Trajan 109 displays a right-facing bust of Trajan, wearing a laurel wreath and draped across the shoulders. Numismatists distinguish this portrait type within Trajan's broader iconographic evolution, which transitioned from early, severe portraits reminiscent of Nerva toward a more individualized, heroic presentation. The emperor is rendered with his characteristic low forehead, straight nose, firm jaw, and combed-forward hair (the classic Trajanic hairstyle derived from Julio-Claudian models). The laurel wreath signifies triumph and imperial authority, while the drapery on the shoulders provides a sense of civic dignity. Unlike naked busts or bust variations featuring an aegis or cuirass, the draped bust presents the ruler in a balanced civic-military guise, well suited to the domestic emphasis of the accompanying reverse type.

Reverse Iconography of Ceres

The reverse of the coin is devoted to the goddess Ceres, who stands facing left, draped in long flowing garments. In her right hand, she holds ripe ears of corn (grain) pointed downwards toward the ground, while her left hand cradles a long, upright torch resting against her body or held straight. Ceres held a foundational position in Roman religion and state ideology as the divine patron of agriculture, harvest, and the grain supply (annona). The downwards orientation of the grain ears emphasizes the dispensing of agricultural abundance directly to the Roman people, while the long torch evokes her mythological search for her daughter Proserpina and her role in mysteries of renewal and fertility. On Trajanic coinage, Ceres directly reinforced the imperial virtue of Providentia and the emperor's duty to guarantee the grain supply of Rome, an obligation that Trajan fulfilled through substantial infrastructure projects, including the expansion of the harbour at Portus.

Epigraphy and Imperial Titulature

The inscriptions on RIC II Trajan 109 provide critical chronological and political evidence. The obverse legend reads IMP TRAIANO AVG GER DAC P M TR P, an abbreviation for Imperatori Traiano Augusto Germanico Dacico, Pontifici Maximo, Tribunicia Potestate. This formula presents Trajan's triumphal cognomina 'Germanicus' (awarded in AD 97) and 'Dacicus' (formally adopted late in AD 102), alongside his titles as chief priest (Pontifex Maximus) and possessor of tribunician power (Tribunicia Potestas). The reverse continues the imperial narrative with COS V P P S P Q R OPTIMO PRINC, expanding to Consuli Quintum, Patri Patriae, Senatus Populusque Romanus Optimo Principi. The mention of his fifth consulship (COS V), entered on January 1, AD 103, establishes the terminus post quem for the issue. Notably, the dedication from the Senate and Roman People naming him 'Optimus Princeps' ('Best of Princes') encapsulates the exceptional constitutional standing and widespread civic acclaim that defined Trajan's middle principate.

Typology and Chronological Classification

In the standard classification established by Harold Mattingly and Edward A. Sydenham in The Roman Imperial Coinage (RIC II), this issue is catalogued as number 109 under the Rome mint. In his modern, die-based master study of Trajan's coinage, Bernhard Woytek classifies this specific aureus under issue period MIR 14, group 213, placing its primary production within the middle segment of the COS V period, roughly spanning AD 103 to 111 before Trajan entered his sixth consulship (COS VI) on January 1, AD 112. The Ceres reverse was struck alongside several other companion types celebrating Pax, Felicitas, and Roma, which together formed a cohesive iconographic program articulating the benefits of Trajan's victorious governance. Minor variations in portrait drapery (such as the extent of drapery on the far shoulder) appear across known dies, representing normal workshop variability rather than distinct administrative issues.

Circulation, Hoard Evidence, and Monetary Function

Because gold coins represented substantial purchasing power, individual aurei of RIC II Trajan 109 did not circulate in day-to-day market transactions in the manner of bronze sestertii or silver denarii. A single aureus was legally equivalent to 25 silver denarii or 100 sestertii, representing several weeks of subsistence wages for an ordinary Roman soldier or laborer. As a result, aurei experienced significantly lower velocity of circulation and milder wear than base-metal denominations. They frequently circulated within commercial networks of elite commerce, inter-provincial tax remittance, and long-term hoarding. Trajanic aurei are regularly documented in major gold coin hoards across Italy, Gaul, Britain, and the Danubian provinces, often preserved alongside late Flavian and earlier Trajanic issues. Over time, many such aurei were eventually melted down during the financial reforms of later emperors or remained cached in domestic savings until their modern rediscovery.

References

1. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, Volume III: Nerva to Hadrian. pp. 64-65
2. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC II Trajan 109. RIC II Trajan 109
3. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Volume II: Vespasian to Hadrian. p. 252, no. 109
4. Die Reichsprägung des Kaisers Traianus (98-117). Moneta Imperii Romani 14, no. 213