Trajan Gold Aureus RIC II Trajan 123

Monetary Context and Economic Background

The aureus catalogued as RIC II Trajan 123 occupies an important juncture in Roman monetary history. Throughout the Julio-Claudian and Flavian periods, the imperial gold aureus functioned alongside the silver denarius as the bedrock of the bimetallic currency system. Under Nero's monetary reform in AD 64, the weight of the aureus had been reduced from 1/40th of a Roman pound (approximately 7.8 grams) to 1/45th of a pound (approximately 7.27 grams). Trajan maintained this standard, striking aurei of remarkable metallurgical purity, typically exceeding 99 percent gold. The period encompassing Trajan's fifth consulship (AD 103 to 111) witnessed an unprecedented influx of precious metal into the Roman treasury, precipitated by the conquest of the Dacian kingdom and the capture of King Decebalus's royal treasury, as well as the operational exploitation of the gold mines of Transylvania. This sudden enrichment facilitated an extensive expansion of the money supply, financing massive infrastructural projects in Rome and Italy, such as the Forum of Trajan, the refurbishment of the Circus Maximus, and the expansion of the imperial alimentary schemes. Aurei were not designed for everyday retail transactions; instead, they were utilized for inter-provincial trade, aristocratic wealth storage, high-level administrative settlements, and substantial military donatives. An aureus equaled 25 silver denarii or 100 sestertii, making it an indispensable instrument of state finance during the zenith of imperial expansion.

Production Standards and Minting Operations

The striking of RIC II Trajan 123 took place entirely at the principal imperial mint in the capital city of Rome. Epigraphic and numismatic scholarship, particularly the systematic corpus of Bernhard Woytek, confirms that Roman precious-metal coinage during the middle principate of Trajan was centralized in Rome, with branch mints restricted to provincial silver and local base-metal issues in the East. Production within the mint was organized into specialized workshops, or officinae, which shared iconographic programs and die preparation techniques across denominations. Blanks for the gold aureus were cast with precision using open molds or spherical droplets hammered flat, ensuring tight adherence to the target weight standard of around 7.25 grams, with observed specimens typically falling between 7.15 and 7.35 grams. Flans were struck hot between hand-carved intaglio dies made of bronze or iron alloys. Die alignment for Trajanic aurei at Rome was predominantly executed at a regular six o'clock or twelve o'clock orientation. The craftsmanship reflected in this issue demonstrates the pinnacle of early second-century Roman die engraving, characterized by crisp lettering, detailed drapery rendering, and lifelike anatomical modeling in the imperial portrait.

Obverse Design and Portraiture

The obverse of RIC II Trajan 123 presents a right-facing bust of Trajan, depicted as laureate and draped. This depiction exemplifies what numismatic scholars designate as Trajan's third or mature portrait type, introduced during the Dacian campaigns. Unlike the early portraits of his reign, which closely mimicked the austere, weathered features of his adoptive father Nerva, the portraiture of the COS V period conveys imperial majesty, physical vigor, and calm authority. The laurel wreath sits firmly upon Trajan's head, tied behind with flowing ribbons (taeniae) that rest upon the nape of the neck. The drapery covers the left shoulder and wraps around the bust, offering a sense of civic dignity that tempers the martial qualities of the conqueror. The emperor is shown with clean-shaven, square-jawed features, a straight, prominent nose, low forehead, and straight hair brushed forward over the brow in the classic military style of the Flavian and adoptive emperors. The surrounding inscription runs clockwise along the border, enclosed within an outer circle of delicate dots.

Reverse Iconography and Symbolism

The reverse design features the personification Libertas standing upright and facing left. In her right hand, extended forward, she holds the pileus, the conical felt cap traditionally placed upon the shaved head of an enslaved person upon being granted manumission. In her left hand, held upright or leaning, she grasps the vindicta (often alternatively interpreted in older catalogues as a long rod or sceptre), the touch-wand wielded by the praetor during the ceremony of legal liberation. Libertas is attired in a classical long stola with overhanging drapery, falling in naturalistic folds to her feet. The choice of Libertas on Trajanic gold struck between AD 103 and 111 had profound ideological significance. In post-Domitianic political discourse, the concept of 'libertas restituta' was paramount. Pliny the Younger, in his Panegyricus delivered in AD 100, celebrated Trajan as a ruler under whom true liberty and the principate were reconciled. By invoking Libertas on high-value gold coinage alongside the Senate's acclaim of the emperor as 'Optimus Princeps', the imperial mint asserted that Trajan's autocracy did not suppress civic freedom, but instead guaranteed legal order, security, and the dignity of the Roman citizenry.

Epigraphy and Legend Analysis

The legends on RIC II Trajan 123 constitute an integrated titular formula that bridges obverse and reverse. The obverse inscription reads 'IMP TRAIANO AVG GER DAC P M TR P', representing an abridged dative dedication: 'Imperatori Traiano Augusto Germanico Dacico, Pontifici Maximo, Tribunicia Potestate'. This translates to 'To the Emperor Trajan Augustus, conqueror of the Germans, conqueror of the Dacians, Pontifex Maximus, invested with Tribunician Power'. The formulation in the dative case is distinctive of Trajan's middle coinage, presenting the coins as dedicatory offerings of praise from the Roman people and senate to their princeps. The reverse continues this dedicatory syntax with 'COS V P P S P Q R OPTIMO PRINC', expanding to 'Consuli Quintum, Patri Patriae, Senatus Populusque Romanus Optimo Principi'. This translates as 'Consul for the fifth time, Father of the Country, the Senate and the Roman People [dedicate this] to the Best of Emperors'. The title 'Optimus Princeps', initially an informal senatorial greeting, became an official part of Trajanic epigraphy starting around AD 103, reinforcing his unique status as the paragon of civic virtue and benevolence.

Typology and Chronological Classification

RIC II Trajan 123 belongs to the extensive COS V series, which was initiated when Trajan assumed his fifth consulship on January 1, AD 103, and terminated prior to his sixth consulship on January 1, AD 112. Harold Mattingly and Edward Sydenham placed this type within a broad bracket of AD 103 to 111 in Roman Imperial Coinage. In his foundational study of Trajan's coinage, Paul Strack refined this chronology by examining stylistic evolutions of the bust and bust draping, attributing the Libertas issues primarily to the post-Dacian peace phase between AD 107 and 111. More recently, Bernhard Woytek's Die Reichsprägung des Kaisers Traianus classified the type within his chronological framework under MIR 14, distinguishing varieties with differing bust treatments (such as draped versus draped and cuirassed variants). While companion issues featuring identical reverse types were struck in silver as denarii, RIC II Trajan 123 is specifically restricted to the gold aureus. The durability of the reverse type across multiple die pairings illustrates that Libertas was a core component of the mint's recurrent ideological repertoire throughout the middle phase of the reign.

Circulation Patterns and Hoard Evidence

Because gold coins possessed high purchasing power and intrinsic value, aurei like RIC II Trajan 123 circulated across wide geographic areas and were frequently hoarded during times of fiscal or military instability. Unlike silver and bronze coins, which were heavily worn down through daily manual transactions, Roman gold experienced minimal mechanical wear, circulating over decades or remaining stored in private savings or military vaults. Major hoards discovered across western Europe, the Danube frontier, and the eastern Mediterranean have yielded significant numbers of Trajanic COS V aurei. The substantial volume of gold coined following the conquest of Dacia in AD 106 led to a long-term presence of these aurei in currency pools well into the Antonine and Severan eras. When hoarded, Trajan's aurei are often found alongside issues of Vespasian, Domitian, and Hadrian. Trajan's later demonetization and melting down of pre-Neronian, worn, or sub-standard silver issues in AD 107 did not diminish the high regard for his own gold coinage, which remained a benchmark of imperial monetary reliability throughout the second century AD.

References

1. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC II Trajan 123. ric.2.tr.123
2. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Volume II: Vespasian to Hadrian. p. 254, no. 123
3. Untersuchungen zur römischen Reichsprägung des zweiten Jahrhunderts. Teil I: Die Reichsprägung zur Zeit des Traian. pp. 110-128
4. Die Reichsprägung des Kaisers Traianus (98-117). MIR 14, pp. 290-315