Trajan Gold Aureus RIC II Trajan 367

Monetary and Political Context

The aureus under Trajan occupied the summit of the Roman imperial monetary hierarchy, valued at 25 silver denarii or 100 bronze sestertii. Following Nero's monetary reform of AD 64, the theoretical weight of the gold denomination was settled at approximately 1/45th of a Roman pound (circa 7.28 grams), a standard that the emperors of the late first and early second centuries maintained with disciplined consistency. Trajan's reign witnessed a profound infusion of precious metal into the Roman treasury, notably catalyzed by the massive bullion captured during the conquest of Dacia in AD 101 to 106. By the later years of his rule, imperial fiscal policy was increasingly oriented toward funding the monumental military operations of the Parthian campaign in the East, initiated in AD 113 to 114. Gold aurei struck during this twilight phase of Trajan's reign performed a dual function. Economically, they provided the high-value liquidity required for military payroll, donatives, and administrative expenditures across the eastern frontier. Ideologically, their high intrinsic value and circulation among senior officers, provincial aristocracies, and allied monarchs rendered them ideal instruments of official imperial messaging, heralding Trajan's pacification and geopolitical ordering of the eastern periphery.

Production and Mint Allocation

Production of RIC II Trajan 367 is securely assigned to the principal imperial mint at Rome. While Trajan established auxiliary eastern coin production in silver and bronze at Antioch and other provincial centers to furnish regional campaign logistics, imperial gold coinage remained overwhelmingly centralized at the capital mint. The dies for RIC II Trajan 367 display the sophisticated, confident craftsmanship characteristic of the seasoned Rome mint celators. Die cutters at Rome were tasked with translating complex multi-figure historical and military tableaux onto a flan measuring barely twenty millimeters in diameter. Production involved the preparation of cast flans of high-purity gold, commonly exceeding 98 to 99 percent fineness, which were then struck between engraved bronze or iron dies using heavy hammer blows. Surviving specimens across museum collections demonstrate consistent execution, exhibiting tight axis alignments (predominantly at the six o'clock or twelve o'clock orientation typical of the Trajanic mint) and disciplined control over metal flow, ensuring that fine details on both the imperial portrait and the multi-figure reverse remained legible.

Obverse Portraiture and Style

The obverse of RIC II Trajan 367 depicts the mature bust of Trajan facing right, wearing a laurel wreath and dressed in both paludamentum (drapery) and cuirass. In contrast to the idealized, youthful portraits of Trajan's early decennalia issues, the portraiture of AD 114 to 117 captures the veteran commander in his sixties. Celators depicted the emperor with his signature low, straight-cut fringe of hair across the forehead, a firm, prominent jaw, deep nasolabial folds, and an aquiline nose. The drapery across the shoulders is arranged over military armor, visually reinforcing Trajan's persona as supreme imperator actively campaigning on the frontier. The laurel wreath sits firmly on the head, with ties descending toward the nape of the neck. Minor variations in the arrangement of the drapery fold or the angle of the cuirass exist across distinct obverse dies, reflecting the work of multiple master engravers operating simultaneously within the officinae of the Rome mint while conforming strictly to the official imperial archetype.

Reverse Iconography: The Regal Investiture

The reverse of RIC II Trajan 367 carries one of the most dynamic multi-figure compositions in second-century imperial numismatics. Trajan is depicted in military dress seated to the left upon a curule chair atop a low suggestum (raised platform). Standing beside or slightly behind him on the dais are two attendants, typically identified in scholarship as military officers or lictors, one of whom often holds a spear. In the lower field to the right, facing the emperor, stand three figures in oriental dress or barbarian mantle, representing foreign kings. The foremost king extends his hands upward toward Trajan in a traditional gesture of supplication or to receive a diadem or royal investiture, while the other two kings stand in close attendance behind him. This tableau translates the diplomatic reality of AD 116 into visual propaganda: having dismantled Parthian control over Armenia and Mesopotamia, Trajan reconstituted these territories under Roman client rulers. The composition deliberately echoes republican and early imperial rituals of imperial adlocutio and formal investiture, underscoring the emperor's role as arbiter of nations and sovereign distributor of thrones.

Epigraphy and Titulature

The legends on RIC II Trajan 367 provide rigorous chronological markers and articulate the core imperial ideology of the late principate. The obverse legend reads IMP CAES NER TRAIAN OPTIM AVG GER DAC PARTHICO. This legend records the emperor's titles in the dative case (ending in Parthico), a grammatical construction common in Trajan's later coinage that framed the coins as formal dedications by the Senate and Roman people to their supreme ruler. The sequence of victory cognomina chronicles his imperial achievements: Germanicus (assumed under Nerva in AD 97), Dacicus (following the First Dacian War in AD 102), and Parthicus (awarded by the Senate in late AD 115 or early AD 116). The inclusion of OPTIM (Optimus) emphasizes his constitutional status as the Best of Princes, a title decreed by the Senate in autumn AD 114. On the reverse, the legend REGNA ADSIGNATA translates literally as 'the kingdoms assigned' or 'the kingdoms bestowed.' In contrast to the concurrent and more famous sestertius and aureus type reading REX PARTHIS DATUS ('a king given to the Parthians', referring specifically to the installation of Parthamaspates at Ctesiphon), REGNA ADSIGNATA uses the plural noun to signify a broader settlement encompassing multiple dynastic principalities along the northern and eastern frontiers, including Armenia, Osrhoene, and adjacent regional realms.

Typology and Chronological Placement

Within the typology established by Harold Mattingly and Edward Sydenham in Roman Imperial Coinage, RIC II Trajan 367 represents a specific gold aureus issue within Trajan's sixth consulship and final campaign era. While the broad catalogue date range spans AD 114 to 117 based on the introduction of the title Optimus, the definitive inclusion of the title PARTHICO refines the terminus post quem to late AD 115 or early AD 116, when news of the capture of Ctesiphon and the submission of eastern monarchs reached Rome. The type was struck alongside complementary silver denarii and large bronze sestertii featuring identical or related reverse scenes of royal investiture (such as RIC 666 for the sestertius variant). Numismatists distinguish RIC 367 from related gold types by its specific combination of obverse bust drapery (laureate, draped, and cuirassed right) and the legend ending PARTHICO in the dative case, without tribunician numbering. The production of this type was necessarily brief, ending abruptly with Trajan's illness and death in Cilicia in August AD 117, after which his successor Hadrian abandoned several of the newly annexed eastern provinces.

Circulation, Hoards, and Modern Survival

As an elite gold issue, RIC II Trajan 367 circulated within the highest economic echelons of the empire. Unlike bronze coinage, which was subject to regional circulation barriers, imperial aurei possessed empire-wide purchasing power and moved freely along major administrative and military arteries. Surviving specimens have been recorded in major imperial hoards from both the western provinces and the Danubian and eastern frontiers, reflecting the movement of military pay and bullion stores. Because gold coins suffered minimal wear from daily handling and were frequently hoarded during political disruptions, high-grade examples of RIC 367 exist in institutional collections such as the British Museum, the Bibliothèque nationale de France, and the American Numismatic Society. Nonetheless, the issue remains scarce due to the compressed production window between the assumption of Parthicus in AD 116 and the cessation of Trajanic minting upon the emperor's death in AD 117, as well as the widespread melting and restriking of gold under subsequent reigns.

References

1. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, Volume III: Nerva to Hadrian. Trajan, nos. 588-590
2. The Roman Aurei, Volume I: From the Republic to Pertinax. no. 1092
3. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Volume II: Vespasian to Hadrian. p. 270, no. 367
4. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC II Trajan 367. RIC II Trajan 367
5. Untersuchungen zur römischen Reichsprägung des zweiten Jahrhunderts, Teil I: Die Reichsprägung zur Zeit des Traian. pp. 218-225