Trajan Gold Aureus, RIC II Trajan 368

Monetary Context and Denominational Role

Under the Principate, the gold aureus functioned as the primary standard of high-value wealth storage, state expenditure, and institutional accounting throughout the Roman world. Established on a stable footing by Augustus and later reformed by Nero in AD 64, the imperial aureus was struck at roughly 45 coins to the Roman pound (libra), yielding an official theoretical weight standard near 7.28 grams. Trajan adhered consistently to this post-Neronian weight and alloy standard, maintaining a fineness in excess of 98 to 99 percent pure gold. The aureus anchored a structured fiduciary currency system tariffed against silver and base-metal denominations, where one aureus was legally equivalent to 25 silver denarii, 100 orichalcum sestertii, 200 dupondii, or 400 copper asses. The issue of RIC II Trajan 368 occurred between AD 114 and AD 117, a period of immense military and diplomatic mobilization associated with the emperor's Parthian campaign. Enormous sums of gold were minted and disbursed to pay military stipends, finance supply chains across the eastern Mediterranean, and distribute imperial donatives. High-value gold coins like RIC II Trajan 368 did not enter ordinary daily market commerce; rather, they served as the monetary backbone of military logistics, civic subventions, and large-scale fiscal transfers managed directly by the imperial fiscus.

Production and Mint Organization

The production of RIC II Trajan 368 took place entirely at the principal imperial mint in Rome. During the middle and late years of Trajan's reign, the Roman mint operated under a highly organized administrative hierarchy overseen by equestrian procurators and manned by skilled enslaved and freed artisans (familia monetalis). Production was divided into discrete workshops, or officinae, which regulated die preparation, flan weighing, and striking quality. Die engravers cut both obverse and reverse matrices in high relief using hardened bronze or iron dies. Gold planchets were cast in round, pre-measured moulds, carefully adjusted against calibrated scale weights to ensure strict adherence to the statutory aureus weight, and heated before being placed between the dies. Striking was performed manually by hammer blow, ensuring crisp definition of Trajan's portraiture and the intricate details of the reverse serpent and patera. Die axes for this issue predominantly cluster around the traditional 6 o'clock or 12 o'clock alignments standard for imperial Roman gold of the early second century AD, demonstrating the disciplined mechanical consistency of the Rome mint.

Obverse Iconography and Portraiture

The obverse of RIC II Trajan 368 presents a mature, heroic bust of Trajan facing right, adorned with a laurel wreath and classical drapery over his left shoulder and chest. Stylistically, this portrait belongs to Trajan's decisive 'Decennalia' and late-reign portrait groups identified in modern numismatic scholarship. The engraving captures the distinctive physiognomy popularized across the empire: a flat, planar skull, combed-forward hair ending in regular fringe locks over the brow, a firm jawline, a prominent nasal bridge, and tightly closed lips. The laurel wreath rests securely upon his head with ties draping downward along the nape of the neck, while the drapery introduces an aura of dignity combining civic magistracy with heroic imperial command. The high-relief modeling conveys an impression of sober fortitude, an intentional artistic program developed by Roman court sculptors and gem-engravers to project stability and military resolve during Trajan's prolonged absences from Rome.

Reverse Iconography and Symbolism

The reverse type of RIC II Trajan 368 exhibits Salus, the Roman divine personification of health, security, and well-being, seated upon an elaborate, high-backed throne facing left. Draped in a long stola and mantle that fall in graceful folds to her feet, Salus rests her left forearm upon the armrest of the throne. In her extended right hand, she holds a patera, a shallow libation bowl, from which she dispenses nourishment to a serpent rising in sinuous coils from the base of a small, cylindrical altar situated before her. In Roman religious practice, the serpent was an attribute shared with the Greek Hygieia and the healing god Aesculapius, symbolizing rejuvenation, life force, and medicinal guardianship. Within the context of the late Trajanic principate, the motif of Salus feeding the serpent carried dual significance. It functioned both as a personal petition for the physical recovery and safety of the aging emperor, who endured grueling environmental conditions and illness during his campaigns in Mesopotamia, and as an ideological affirmation of the Salus Augusti, the enduring prosperity and stability of the Roman commonwealth under divine imperial favor.

Epigraphy and Titulature Analysis

The epigraphic structure of RIC II Trajan 368 provides definitive chronological and ideological parameters for the issue. The obverse legend reads IMP CAES NER TRAIANO OPTIMO AVG GER DAC, translating in expanded form as Imperatori Caesari Nervae Traiano Optimo Augusto Germanico Dacico. Unusually set in the dative case (Traiano Optimo), this inscription emphasizes that the coinage is dedicated to the emperor by the Senate and Roman people in acknowledgment of his supreme civic virtues. The presence of OPTIMO reflects the official senatorial decree of autumn AD 114 that formally elevated the title 'Optimus' into Trajan's primary nomenclature, standing alongside Germanicus (earned AD 97) and Dacicus (earned AD 102). The reverse legend is continuous around the field, reading P M TR P COS VI P P S P Q R SALVS AVG, which abbreviates Pontifex Maximus, Tribunicia Potestate, Consul VI, Pater Patriae, Senatus Populusque Romanus, Salus Augusti. This legend lists the emperor's supreme religious office, his ongoing tribunician power, his sixth consulship (first entered in AD 112 and retained without renewal for the remainder of his life), and his status as Father of the Country. The phrase S P Q R underscores the constitutional sanction of the Senate and citizens, while the closing title SALVS AVG directly defines the personification depicted on the reverse.

Typology, Dating, and Variations

Within the typology established by Harold Mattingly and Edward Sydenham in The Roman Imperial Coinage, RIC II Trajan 368 occupies a precise place among the final group of gold and silver coinages struck before Trajan's death in August AD 117. The dating is bounded on the earlier side by the incorporation of the title OPTIMVS in late AD 114, and on the later side by the appearance of the victory title PARTHICVS, which Trajan officially adopted in late AD 115 or early AD 116. While some issues continuing this reverse type in AD 116-117 incorporate PARTHICVS on either the obverse or reverse, RIC II Trajan 368 represents the transitional emission retaining the formula P M TR P COS VI P P S P Q R SALVS AVG alongside the dative OPTIMO obverse legend without Parthicus. Variations within the type are limited primarily to minor die-engraving nuances, such as the exact rendering of the drapery over the emperor's shoulder, slight adjustments in the spacing of the reverse lettering, and the height and ornamentation of the altar around which the snake coils. Parallel denarius issues sharing this reverse design and legend were also produced in substantial quantities, demonstrating coordinated multi-denominational propaganda programs at the Rome mint.

Circulation, Hoard Evidence, and Survival

Gold aurei under the high empire circulated under very different patterns than silver or bronze money. Because of their concentrated purchasing power and intrinsic value, aurei rarely experienced the rapid hand-to-hand wear typical of fractional currency. Instead, they were accumulated in commercial bank reserves, imperial treasuries, and private savings hoards. Specimens of RIC II Trajan 368 entered monetary streams that extended across Italy, the Danubian frontier military bases, and the eastern provinces where Roman armies were concentrated during the Parthian expedition. Hoard evidence from across the Roman Empire, including major finds in Britain, France, the Balkans, and modern Turkey, confirms that late Trajanic aurei remained in circulation for several decades, occasionally surviving in deposits buried as late as the Severan dynasty before being removed from the money supply by later third-century debasements. Because gold retained intrinsic value, significant numbers of worn or demonetized aurei were routinely melted down and restruck by successor regimes, leaving extant specimens of RIC II Trajan 368 in modern public and private cabinets as scarce and historically vital documents of Roman imperial statecraft.

References

1. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, Volume III: Nerva to Hadrian. London, 1936, Trajan nos. 599-601
2. The Roman Aurei, Catalogue, Volume I: From the Republic to Pertinax. Barcelona, 2003, no. 1083
3. Money and Government in the Roman Empire. Cambridge University Press, 1994
4. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Volume II: Vespasian to Hadrian. p. 269, no. 368
5. Untersuchungen zur römischen Reichsprägung des zweiten Jahrhunderts, Teil I: Die Reichsprägung zur Zeit des Traian. Stuttgart, 1931
6. Die Reichsprägung des Kaisers Traianus (98-117). Moneta Imperii Romani 14, Vienna, 2010