Plotina Gold Aureus, RIC II Trajan 732 (aureus)

Monetary Context and Imperial Ideology

Under the reign of Trajan (AD 98 to 117), the Roman gold aureus held a central position within the imperial monetary system as the premier high-value denomination. Inheriting the reform standards established under Nero and adjusted under the Flavians, Trajanic aurei were struck at approximately 45 to the Roman pound, resulting in a theoretical target weight of approximately 7.28 grams of high-purity gold. While the silver denarius met the day-to-day transaction needs of state military pay and urban administration, aurei were deployed primarily for high-level state expenditures, vast infrastructure projects, diplomatic subsidies, and imperial donatives. The inclusion of imperial women on Roman coinage served a vital dynastic role. Although Pompeia Plotina was offered the title Augusta by the Senate early in Trajan's reign, literary sources such as Pliny the Younger's Panegyricus indicate that she initially declined, accepting it formally around AD 105. Gold issues struck in her name, including RIC II Trajan 732, elevated the female counterpart of the imperial house. Depicting Plotina on precious metal alongside Vesta underscored the moral stability, piety, and continuity of the principate, presenting an ideal vision of the Roman household that complemented Trajan's military and administrative achievements.

Mint Organization and Production Standards

The entire production of regular imperial gold coinage for Trajan, including the series dedicated to Plotina, was concentrated at the central mint in Rome. Operating under the administrative control of imperial procurators and freedmen, the Rome mint executed gold dies of exceptional artistic refinement and metrological consistency. Gold planchets were carefully cast and weighed individually prior to striking to prevent underweight or overweight specimens from entering circulation. Surviving specimens of RIC II Trajan 732 adhere closely to the standard Trajanic gold norm, typically falling between 7.15 and 7.35 grams with a diameter ranging from 19 to 20 millimeters. The die alignment for imperial aurei of this period is overwhelmingly regular, adhering predominantly to a six o'clock or twelve o'clock orientation. The engraving of Plotina's portrait demonstrates the high level of skill resident in the Rome workshops, where die-cutters translated intricate court coiffures into miniature sculptural relief in hard bronze or iron dies.

Obverse Design and Portraiture

The obverse of RIC II Trajan 732 presents a right-facing bust of Plotina, draped neatly at the shoulders. Her portrait reflects the sober, restrained realism characteristic of Trajanic court art, diverging from the towering honeycombed hairstyles popular under the Flavian dynasty in favor of a composed, structured elegance. Plotina's coiffure on this issue is especially notable. The hair is drawn up from the forehead over a rigid pad or frame forming a low crest, combed smoothly over the crown, and gathered at the back of the head into a braided queue that hangs straight down behind the neck. This distinctive arrangement served as a visual hallmark of Plotina's public iconography across both numismatic issues and freestanding marble portraiture. Her facial features are portrayed with dignity and maturity, emphasizing modest virtue and austere imperial decorum.

Reverse Iconography and State Religion

The reverse depicts Vesta, the Roman goddess of the hearth and guardian of state continuity, seated facing left on a curule chair (sella curulis). She is dressed in traditional draped robes and holds a short sceptre upright in her hand. The curule chair, a traditional magistral seat symbolizing legitimate civic authority, reinforces the official status of the cult. Vesta occupied a prominent place in the religious propaganda of the imperial women. As keeper of the sacred flame that preserved Rome, she symbolized chastity, domestic sanctity, and eternal civic security. By connecting Plotina to Vesta on the precious-metal coinage, the mint highlighted the empress's role as the moral exemplar of the Roman matronate. The simplicity of the composition, devoid of extraneous attributes, focuses attention entirely on the serene majesty of the goddess and her protective guardianship over the empire.

Epigraphy and Titulature Analysis

The legends on RIC II Trajan 732 provide crucial epigraphic evidence for the authority behind the issue and its political messaging. The obverse legend reads PLOTINA AVG IMP TRAIAN, expanding as 'Plotina Augusta [uxor] Imperatoris Traiani' ('Plotina Augusta, wife of Emperor Trajan'). This concise formula directly links the empress's august title to the supreme military and executive title of her husband, establishing her status through imperial matrimony. The reverse legend carries the official titles of Trajan himself: CAES AVG GERMA DAC COS VI P P, expanding as 'Caesar Augustus Germanicus Dacicus, Consul sextum, Pater Patriae'. Notably, the reverse omission of Trajan's personal praenomen or nomen indicates that the reverse inscription completes the obverse dedication. The reverse legend explicitly records Trajan's triumphator cognomina of Germanicus and Dacicus alongside his sixth consulship (COS VI) and the venerable title Father of the Country (Pater Patriae).

Typology and Chronological Placement

The chronological envelope of RIC II Trajan 732 is securely anchored by the titulature recorded in the reverse legend. Trajan entered his sixth and final consulship on January 1, AD 112, and did not assume a seventh before his death in August AD 117. Consequently, any issue bearing the title COS VI must date within this final five-year period of the reign. Bernhard Woytek's comprehensive corpus of Trajan's coinage (MIR 14) categorizes this issue within the late Trajanic output of the Rome mint, specifically between AD 112 and 115, prior to the widespread addition of the title Parthicus in AD 116. While RIC II (originally published by Mattingly and Sydenham) assigns a broad bracket covering the post-consular period up to Trajan's death, the absence of Parthicus strongly supports an issue date early within the sixth consulship, coinciding with celebrations of imperial stability before the major eastern campaigns.

Circulation, Hoard Evidence, and Survival

Gold aurei of Empress Plotina were struck in substantially smaller quantities than the standard issues bearing Trajan's own portrait, reflecting their specialized commemorative role within the gold denomination. Because gold coins possessed immense intrinsic value, they did not circulate indiscriminately in daily retail transactions. Instead, they were held in commercial treasuries, military headquarters, or elite private hoards, moving throughout the empire primarily as commercial settlements or stores of wealth. Hoard evidence from across the Roman provinces demonstrates that Trajanic aurei remained in active circulation well into the Antonine and Severan periods, often suffering moderate edge wear and minor surface marks before eventual deposition. Specimens of RIC II Trajan 732 survive today in limited numbers across public institutional collections and recorded European hoards. Their survival highlights the durability of high-purity Roman gold and the prestige attached to preserved issues of the early adoptive emperors and their dynastic partners.

References

1. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, Volume III: Nerva to Hadrian. pp. 106-107, nos. 525-528
2. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Volume II: Vespasian to Hadrian. p. 298, no. 732
3. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC II Trajan 732 (aureus). RIC II Trajan 732 (aureus)
4. Untersuchungen zur romischen Reichspragung des zweiten Jahrhunderts, Teil I: Die Reichspragung zur Zeit des Traian. pp. 200-204
5. Die Reichspragung des Kaisers Traianus (98-117), Moneta Imperii Romani 14. MIR 14, no. 704