Trajan Silver Denarius RIC II Trajan 818

Monetary Context and the Restored Coinage

The emission of RIC II Trajan 818 belongs to the celebrated series of restored coins produced under Trajan. Ancient historical testimony, notably from Cassius Dio (68.15.3), records that around AD 107, in the aftermath of the second Dacian War, Trajan melted down old, worn currency throughout the empire. This reform served a dual fiscal and symbolic purpose. Pre-reform denarii from the Republic and early Empire carried higher silver purities than the post-Neronian standard, providing the imperial treasury with substantial bullion profits when recalled, melted, and restruck at the prevailing Trajanic standard of approximately eighty-five to eighty-nine percent silver fineness. To mitigate public nostalgia and preserve the memory of illustrious historical precedents, Trajan issued a special series of restored denarii and aurei. These nummi restituti reproduced celebrated Republican denarii, honoring prominent Roman families, as well as landmark issues of the Julio-Claudian, Flavian, and Nerva dynasties. RIC II Trajan 818 resurrected an Augustan denarius originally produced at the Rome mint by the moneyer Cossus Cornelius Lentulus around 12 BC, preserving the memory of the shared governance between Augustus and Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa.

Production and Mint Organization

All numismatic evidence indicates that the restored coinage of Trajan, including RIC II Trajan 818, was produced centrally at the mint of Rome. Operating under the authority of the imperial procurator monetae, the mint of Rome maintained strict technical discipline in die production, flan preparation, and striking. Unlike regular commercial issues of Trajanic denarii, which were struck in immense volumes across numerous workshops (officinae), the restored series appears to have been produced in highly restricted quantities. Surviving specimens are exceedingly rare, suggesting either a short-lived ceremonial distribution directed at senators, military commanders, and civic dignitaries, or a symbolic minting run designed to accompany the broader withdrawal of archaic coinage. Dies were freshly cut by skilled imperial engravers who carefully adapted the late first-century BC stylistic prototypes into the clean, plastic relief typical of early second-century Roman imperial art. The weight of the restored denarius adhered to Trajan's standard average of roughly 3.1 to 3.4 grams.

Obverse Design and Iconography

The obverse of RIC II Trajan 818 features the head of Augustus facing right, bound with a laurel wreath. By placing Augustus on the obverse rather than his own portrait, Trajan subordinates his personal image to the veneration of the founder of the Principate. The depiction reproduces the mature portraiture of Augustus, characterized by neat, combed hair with classic Julio-Claudian locks on the forehead, deep-set eyes, and an aquiline nose. Trajan's engravers reinterpreted the original Augustan prototype through the lens of early second-century imperial portraiture, producing a portrait with crisp facial planes and dignified gravitas. The laurel wreath symbolizes victory, sacral authority, and the perpetual triumph of the Augustan order, an association that Trajan readily embraced following his own triumph over Dacia.

Reverse Iconography and Attributes

The reverse of the type features the portrait of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa facing right. Agrippa is distinguished by a combined mural and rostral crown (corona rostrata and corona muralis), an exceptional honor awarded to him for his pivotal naval victories, notably at Naulochus in 36 BC and Actium in 31 BC. The rostral crown incorporates representations of ship prows (rostra), while the mural elements evoke fortified city walls, underscoring both maritime supremacy and the protection of Roman cities. Agrippa was the indispensable military architect of Augustus's supremacy, and his presence on the reverse reinforces themes of military loyalty, naval power, and victorious partnership. In Trajanic context, Agrippa represented the ideal general serving the state and the princeps, an exemplary model of Roman virtue that matched Trajan's own self-presentation as Optimus Princeps.

Inscriptions and Epigraphy

The obverse inscription reads AVGVSTVS COS XI, repeating the original legend of the Augustan archetype struck during Augustus's eleventh consulship (held in 23 BC, though the titular formula was retained on later coins struck around 12 BC). The reverse displays an exceptionally long and complex legend arranged around Agrippa's portrait: IMP CAES TRAIAN AVG GER DAC P P REST M AGRIPPA COS TER COSSVS LENTVLVS. This legend is divided into two distinct components. The imperial restitution formula reads Imperator Caesar Traianus Augustus Germanicus Dacicus, Pater Patriae, Restituit ('Imperator Caesar Trajan Augustus, conqueror of Germany, conqueror of Dacia, Father of the Fatherland, has restored this coin'). The epigraphic formula REST explicitly announces the restorative nature of the piece. The remaining legend faithfully transcribes the names and offices from the original Augustan issue: Marcus Agrippa, Consul for the third time (COS TER), and the moneyer Cossus Cornelius Lentulus (COSSVS LENTVLVS). The epigraphy is rendered in elegant, compact Roman capital lettering suited to the small circular field of the denarius.

Typology and Chronological Placement

Within the Roman Imperial Coinage typology, RIC II Trajan 818 is catalogued under the restored issues of Trajan. The broad date range assigned to the authority of Trajan spans AD 98 to 117, but the specific titular elements in the reverse legend provide tighter boundaries for this issue. The inclusion of DAC indicates that the coin was struck after Trajan assumed the title Dacicus in late AD 102 following his first Dacian triumph. Furthermore, the systematic series of restored denarii is securely dated by modern numismatic scholarship, particularly the corpus of Bernhard Woytek (MIR 14), to around AD 112 to 113, or alternatively beginning around AD 107 in connection with the melting down of older currencies recorded by Cassius Dio. Because the coin lacks Trajan's sixth consulship (COS VI, assumed on 1 January AD 112) or the title Optimus (conferred in AD 114) within the restitution formula, scholars debate whether the restored series was executed in a concentrated burst around AD 107 to 110 or during the preparations for the Parthian campaigns around AD 112 to 113.

Circulation and Historical Reception

Unlike standard currency denarii that circulated intensely across military frontiers and commercial hubs, restored denarii such as RIC II Trajan 818 rarely appear in ordinary domestic coin hoards. Their extreme rarity today suggests that they did not serve as regular mass-circulation money. Instead, they likely functioned as commemorative pieces or institutional gifts presented to senators, equites, or military veterans. The coin celebrated Rome's ancestral military traditions and the golden age of Augustus, linking Trajan's contemporary expansionism directly with the architectural and naval triumphs of the early Empire. While technically struck to the weight and silver fineness of legal tender denarii, allowing them to enter circulation if spent, their survival in high average condition indicates that recipients frequently retained them as numismatic keepsakes or ideological statements.

References

1. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, Volume III: Nerva to Hadrian. p. 143, no. 702
2. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC II Trajan 818. ric.2.tr.818
3. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Volume II: Vespasian to Hadrian. p. 312, no. 818
4. Die Reichspragung des Kaisers Traianus (98-117) - Moneta Imperii Romani 14. MIR 14, no. 855