Trajan Gold Aureus RIC II Trajan 247

Monetary Context

Under the principate of Trajan, the Roman monetary system functioned on a bimetallic and trimetallic structure established by the reforms of Augustus and recalibrated under Nero. The aureus stood as the apex denomination of this system, tariffed at twenty-five silver denarii or one hundred bronze sestertii. Following Nero's monetary adjustments in AD 64, the standard weight of the gold aureus had been reduced from 1/40th of a Roman pound to 1/45th of a pound, establishing a theoretical mass near 7.28 grams. Trajan adhered carefully to this gold standard, maintaining exceptional metallurgical purity throughout his reign, typically exceeding ninety-nine percent fine gold. In contrast to the silver denarius, which experienced minor reductions in weight and fineness to fund state expenditures, the aureus remained an uncompromised store of value and an internationally recognized medium of exchange. The issue of RIC II Trajan 247 coincided with a period of remarkable liquidity within the Roman treasury. The complete annexation of Dacia in AD 106 yielded immense reserves of bullion from the mines of the Apuseni Mountains, alongside royal Dacian treasures captured from Decebalus. This unprecedented influx of gold energized public building projects across Italy and funded massive public distributions. Within this economic framework, striking an aureus carrying the architectural image of the Basilica Ulpia served a dual purpose: it disbursed newly minted Dacian gold into high-level economic circulation while celebrating the civic masterpiece funded by those very conquests.

Production and Mints

RIC II Trajan 247 was produced exclusively by the imperial mint in the city of Rome, which exercised a monopoly over precious-metal minting in the Western Empire during this era. The production of gold coinage required stringent bureaucratic oversight, rigorous weight verification, and specialized die engraving. Working blanks were cast in individual moulds or cut from prepared rods of refined gold, followed by careful flan adjustment through shaving or hammering to achieve the mandatory mass before striking. Die engravers at Rome operated within organized officinae, producing dies of remarkable sculptural depth and architectural clarity. The complexity of rendering the facade of the Basilica Ulpia required master celators capable of translating a massive, two-story marble structure into a circular flan measuring barely nineteen to twenty millimeters in diameter. Surviving specimens demonstrate the use of fixed or aligned mechanical striking, with dies carefully oriented to maximize central impact and prevent metal fracturing along the perimeter. Because gold flans were relatively soft yet dense, dies used for aurei experienced less shear stress than bronze dies, allowing delicate details such as pedimental statuary, individual column bases, and frieze elements to be struck with crisp fidelity. The scale of production for this commemorative architectural issue was tightly controlled, resulting in a substantially smaller volume of dies compared to standard military and civil reverse types produced during Trajan's sixth consulship.

Obverse Design and Portraiture

The obverse of RIC II Trajan 247 features a mature, dignified portrait bust of Trajan facing right. He is depicted wearing the laurel wreath, the primary imperial symbol of military triumph and supreme authority, tied at the back of the neck with ribbon ties falling toward the nape. The portrait is fully articulated with drapery over the far shoulder and a cuirass (breastplate) fitted over the chest, displaying the leather or metal pteruges at the shoulder line. This combination of laureate, draped, and cuirassed treatment conveys the emperor's unified identity as victorious commander-in-chief (imperator) and civil magistrate. The stylistic treatment reflects the classicizing realism characteristic of Trajanic portraiture produced after the conclusion of the Dacian campaigns. Trajan is portrayed with his characteristic hairstyle composed of low, straight locks brushed forward over the forehead, a firm jawline, prominent cheekbones, and an unyielding, determined expression. The portrait exhibits an ideal balance between veristic individual features and the calm gravitas expected of a Roman princeps. The bust fills the central field of the flan while leaving an adequate border zone for the extended titulature, framed along the extreme outer edge by a neat pelleted border. Minor variations in the arrangement of the mantle folds and the angle of the laurel wreath ribbons occur across different working dies, but the fundamental configuration remains constant throughout the issue.

Reverse Iconography: The Basilica Ulpia

The reverse design of RIC II Trajan 247 constitutes one of the most celebrated architectural depictions in ancient numismatics, showing the monumental facade of the Basilica Ulpia. The structure is rendered as a wide, multi-columned pavilion flanked by symmetrical side loggias, capturing the grandeur of the real building dedicated in AD 112 as part of the Forum of Trajan. The central entrance bay features a distyle or tetrastyle arrangement elevated on a podium or flight of low steps, flanked by double colonnades on either side. Above the central entablature rises an elaborate triumphal attic story surmounted by statuary: Trajan himself stands in a triumphal chariot drawn by four or six horses, escorted by flanking figures of Victory holding wreaths and trophies of arms. The secondary attics above the flanking wings are crowned by further equestrian figures or military trophies, representing conquered Dacian arms and prisoners. The engravers employed visual foreshortening and artistic condensation, reducing the vast length of the actual Basilica to an intelligible, balanced iconographic composition that emphasized the imperial triumphal program. In the lower field, set within the exergue beneath the ground line of the architectural podium, sits the clear inscription identifying the edifice. This visual documentation provided ancient citizens and provincial recipients with a tangible representation of the monumental civic space newly opened in the heart of Rome.

Inscriptions and Epigraphy

The epigraphic program of RIC II Trajan 247 adheres to the strict official protocols of the Roman imperial chancellery during the mid-to-late reign of Trajan. The obverse legend reads IMP TRAIANO AVG GER DAC P M TR P COS VI P P, inscribed continuously along the perimeter from the lower left to the lower right. Transcribed into full Latin, this formula represents Imperatori Traiano Augusto Germanico Dacico, Pontifici Maximo, Tribunicia Potestate, Consuli Sextum, Patri Patriae. This dedication is rendered in the dative case (Traiano Augusto), indicating that the coinage was issued in honor of the emperor by the Roman state and people. The titles commemorate his conquest of Germania (Germanicus, awarded under Nerva in AD 97) and Dacia (Dacicus, assumed in AD 102), alongside his supreme religious office as Pontifex Maximus and his protective civil authority through the Tribunician Power. The designation COS VI indicates his sixth consulship, assumed on January 1, AD 112, while Pater Patriae honors him as the father of his country. The reverse features an explicit, monumental label in the exergue: BASILICA VLPIA. Inscribed in clear, well-formed Roman square capitals, this legend names the basilica after the imperial family gens (the Ulpii). Notably absent from both obverse and reverse is the honorific cognomen Optimus, which was conferred upon Trajan by the Roman Senate in the autumn of AD 114. The absence of OPTIMO serves as a firm epigraphic terminus ante quem for the striking of this specific catalogued type.

Typology and Chronology

Within the typological framework of Roman imperial coinage, RIC II Trajan 247 is catalogued as an individual precious-metal type distinguished by its specific combination of gold metal, obverse bust variety, reverse architectural composition, and legend series. The chronology of the type is firmly delimited between early AD 112 and mid-to-late AD 114. The initiation of the issue is anchored by the consulship title COS VI, which Trajan assumed on January 1, AD 112. Historical and epigraphic evidence, including fasti records, documents the formal dedication of the Forum of Trajan and the Basilica Ulpia in January AD 112, establishing that the coin type was struck either immediately preceding or following this grand public ceremony. The terminus of the issue is provided by Trajan's official adoption of the title Optimus Princeps into his numismatic legends in August or September of AD 114, following which imperial reverse types of the Basilica Ulpia incorporated OPTIMO AVG GER DAC into the titular formula. While similar architectural representations of the Basilica Ulpia were struck in bronze as sestertii (catalogued under RIC II 610 and related types) and in silver denarii, RIC II Trajan 247 designates exclusively the gold aureus bearing the laureate, draped, and cuirassed obverse bust and the dative legend ending in P P without OPTIMO. Bernhard Woytek, in his comprehensive corpus Moneta Imperatoris Traiani, catalogues this specific issue under MIR 14, type 407f, grouping it among the prestigious dedication issues of the tenth emission of the Rome mint.

Circulation and Monetary Function

As a high-denomination gold coin, RIC II Trajan 247 had an economic life distinctly different from base-metal or silver issues. With a single aureus representing twenty-five days of base pay for an imperial legionary or several months of living expenses for an ordinary civilian, these coins did not circulate widely in daily retail transactions. Instead, they were utilized for massive inter-provincial transfers, commercial transactions between aristocratic merchants, the settling of real estate debts, tax remittances, and the payment of imperial donatives to senior military officers and high-ranking civic officials. Because aurei were regularly hoarded as a secure store of capital in times of political stability and crisis alike, surviving specimens often exhibit relatively little mechanical wear from hand-to-hand commerce. Circulation of this issue was broad across the geographic extent of the empire, with gold pieces moving rapidly from Rome to provincial capitals and legionary hubs along the Rhine, Danube, and eastern frontiers. When aurei entered commercial streams, their integrity was maintained by weight rather than face value alone; banking tables regularly weighed gold coins against standard counterweights to check for clipping or shaving. The artistic clarity and high relief of the Basilica Ulpia aureus made it an effective visual emissary of Roman imperial grandeur, demonstrating to distant provinces and foreign trading partners the monumental wealth and architectural sophistication of the capital city.

References

1. The Trajanic Mint: Architecture, Production and Chronology. pp. 12-28
2. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Volume II: Vespasian to Hadrian. pp. 261-262, no. 247
3. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC II Trajan 247. RIC II Trajan 247
4. The Forum of Trajan in Rome: A Study of the Monuments. Vol. 1, pp. 154-180
5. Die Reichspragung des Kaisers Traianus (98-117) (Moneta Imperatoris Romanorum 14). MIR 14, type 407f