Trajan Silver Denarius, RIC II Trajan 115

Monetary Context and Imperial Policy

The early second century AD was a period of robust fiscal liquidity for the Roman Empire, largely spurred by Trajan's ambitious campaigns north of the Danube. Following the initial Dacian War (AD 101 to 102) and the conclusive annexation of Dacia after the second war (AD 105 to 106), the Roman treasury acquired an immense quantity of bullion from the captured royal mines and treasuries of the Dacian kingdom. This influx of precious metal enabled the imperial administration to sustain heavy public expenditures, undertake expansive urban building projects in Rome, fund military stipends, and expand the alimenta welfare programs without immediate fiscal crisis. Within this broader monetary landscape, the silver denarius served as the operational backbone of Roman imperial finance. The denarius of the middle principate adhered closely to the standards originally established during the monetary reform of Nero in AD 64, as recalibrated by Domitian. Trajan maintained a nominal silver standard producing approximately 96 denarii per Roman pound, yielding an average target mass of roughly 3.2 to 3.4 grams. Although the silver fineness of the denarius saw minor adjustments during Trajan's reign, dipping gradually into the 80 to 85 percent range, the coinage retained high public confidence across domestic and frontier markets. RIC II Trajan 115 belongs directly to this high-volume period of monetary expansion, embodying both an economic medium for large-scale state disbursements and an effective ideological vehicle broadcast through every commercial exchange.

Production and Mint Organization

Production of RIC II Trajan 115 was centralized exclusively at the imperial mint of Rome. During Trajan's principate, the Rome mint operated under a highly structured, departmentalized organization. The facility was divided into several distinct workshops, known as officinae, which coordinated the engraving of dies, casting of flans, alloy control, and striking of coins. While individual officinae are not explicitly marked on the surfaces of early second-century imperial denarii, numismatic hoard studies and die-link analyses demonstrate that multiple workstations concurrently engraved and struck dies of identical iconographic types to maintain output quotas. Flans were cast in open or tiered molds and manually struck with hand-held upper dies against lower dies set into heavy anvils. The operational pressure caused by the influx of Dacian bullion prompted unprecedented production volumes at the Rome mint between AD 103 and 111. Skilled engravers adhered to standardized portrait models disseminated through official imperial prototypes, resulting in exceptional technical consistency across surviving specimens. Minor stylistic discrepancies in drapery folds, hair rendering, and letter sizing reflect the hands of distinct die cutters working within the coordinated officina system rather than separate mint locations.

Obverse Design and Imperial Portraiture

The obverse of RIC II Trajan 115 presents an official portrait bust of Trajan facing right, adorned with a laurel wreath and featuring drapery over the left shoulder or across the bust. Trajan's portraiture on this issue exemplifies the mature, restrained realism that characterizes the artistic reaction against the more idealized or baroque tendencies of Flavian portraiture. His facial features are carved with crisp geometric clarity: a low forehead, straight nose, firm jawline, and characteristic fringe of straight hair combed forward onto the brow in the classic manner of the Julio-Claudians, especially Augustus. The laurel wreath encircling the emperor's head functions as both a sacred attribute of Apollo and a triumphant military decoration, denoting the commander victorious over foreign enemies. The drapery visible at the shoulder or truncation reinforces his civil and military dignity, presenting the princeps as an active commander who remains accessible to his citizens. While standard cataloguing records the bust as laureate and draped, subtle engraver variations exist in the degree of drapery shown, ranging from a slight mantle fold at the base of the neck to more fully draped bust truncations, all conforming within the authorized parameters of this specific type.

Reverse Iconography of Roma

The reverse of RIC II Trajan 115 features a standing depiction of Roma, the divine personification of the Roman state and imperial city. She is portrayed helmeted and attired in military dress, standing turned toward the left. In her outstretched right hand, she holds a miniature figure of Victory (Victoria), who extends a wreath, while Roma's left hand supports an upright, vertical spear. This composition deliberately merges civic sovereignty with military dominance. By depicting Roma in full military dress holding Victory, the design highlights the martial foundation of Rome's peace and prosperity. The spear represents sovereign power and the armed might of the legions, while Victory confirms that Rome's continuous military campaigns, particularly in the Danubian basin, enjoyed divine favor. Unlike seated depictions of Roma that evoke tranquil governance, the standing, armed posture conveys alertness and readiness. The visual pairing of Roma with the emperor on the obverse explicitly ties Trajan's individual achievements to the collective greatness and eternal destiny of Rome herself, emphasizing that the fruits of his leadership redound directly to the majesty of the Roman people.

Inscriptions and Imperial Epigraphy

The inscriptions on RIC II Trajan 115 provide essential chronological, political, and ideological markers. The obverse legend reads IMP TRAIANO AVG GER DAC P M TR P, an abbreviation for Imperatori Traiano Augusto Germanico Dacico, Pontifici Maximo, Tribunicia Potestate. This formula names Trajan with his honorific military cognomina: Germanicus, accepted under Nerva in AD 97, and Dacicus, assumed in late AD 102 following his first campaign against King Decebalus. The inscription also asserts his role as supreme pontiff (Pontifex Maximus) and his holding of the tribunician power (Tribunicia Potestas), the core constitutional foundation of his civil authority. The reverse legend carries the inscription COS V P P S P Q R OPTIMO PRINC, which expands to Consuli Quintum, Patri Patriae, Senatus Populusque Romanus Optimo Principi. The consular designation COS V establishes that the coin was struck during Trajan's fifth consulship, which commenced on January 1, AD 103, and did not advance to his sixth consulship until AD 112. The title Pater Patriae (Father of his Country) expresses familial paternalism over the Roman citizenry. Notably, the legend documents the formal senate-approved title Optimus Princeps (Best of Princes), granted by the Senate and Roman people (SPQR) in recognition of Trajan's moderation, military success, and respect for senatorial prerogative. The continuous legend across both faces represents an intricate syntactical sentence: the Senate and Roman people dedicating honor to their victorious and optimal emperor.

Typology and Chronological Classification

In the standard reference framework of The Roman Imperial Coinage (RIC), this denarius is catalogued as RIC II 115. Within Bernhard Woytek's comprehensive corpus, Die Reichsprägung des Kaisers Traianus (MIR 14), the issue is categorized among the extensive series of denarii bearing the fifth consular iteration (COS V) produced during the middle phase of the reign. Trajan's fifth consulship extended for nine years, from AD 103 through AD 111, because the emperor chose not to assume the consulship annually, creating a broad window of issue for coins carrying this legend formula. Detailed hoard compositions, stylistic progressions, and die analyses published by modern numismatists allow this prolonged COS V emission to be broken down into tighter chronological phases. RIC 115 belongs to the earlier and middle subdivisions of the fifth consulship series, initiated around AD 103 following the formal adoption of Dacicus and the victory celebrations that preceded the second Dacian conflict. The type remained in regular production through the middle years of the decade. It is distinct from later Trajanic denarii where the reverse legend incorporates the formula SPQR OPTIMO PRINCIPI encircling different personifications, or where the emperor's sixth consulship (COS VI) appears starting in AD 112.

Circulation, Hoard Evidence, and Loss Patterns

RIC II Trajan 115 enjoyed immense commercial mobility throughout the Roman world, circulating actively for decades after its initial striking. Denarii of Trajan's fifth consulship are among the most frequently documented silver coins in both western and eastern provincial hoards. Archaeological finds along the northern frontiers, including Britain, the Rhine, and the Danube, consistently feature this type in military camp deposits, confirming that vast consignments of newly struck silver were dispatched directly from Rome to pay border garrisons. Because the silver fineness of Trajanic denarii remained reasonably stable, these coins were neither systematically hoarded nor quickly melted down during the immediate reigns of Hadrian and Antoninus Pius. Instead, they remained an integral component of the empire's circulating pool well into the third century. The massive influx of Severan and third-century debased antoniniani eventually caused earlier, purer silver coins like RIC 115 to be culled from circulation under Gresham's Law, leading to their preservation in late second- and early third-century savings hoards. Recovered specimens display degrees of wear spanning from near-mint condition, characteristic of rapid burial, to heavily worn surfaces indicative of fifty or more years of unceasing hand-to-hand transactions across market towns and military outposts.

References

1. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, Vol. III: Nerva to Hadrian. Trajan, nos. 140-142
2. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC II Trajan 115. ric.2.tr.115
3. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Vol. II: Vespasian to Hadrian. p. 254, no. 115
4. Die Reichsprägung des Kaisers Traianus (98-117) - Moneta Imperii Romani 14. Wien: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2010