Trajan Silver Denarius, RIC II Trajan 318 (denarius)

Monetary and Historical Context

The emission of RIC II Trajan 318 (denarius) belongs to a decisive juncture in the monetary and political history of the High Roman Empire. By AD 114, Trajan's administration had successfully consolidated the enormous wealth garnered from the Dacian Wars, which concluded in AD 106. The influx of captured bullion had previously financed unprecedented architectural endeavors in Rome, including the massive Forum of Trajan, while also facilitating widespread distributions and imperial subsidies. Approximately seven years prior to this issue, in roughly AD 107, Trajan had enacted a systemic monetary adjustment documented by contemporary historians and numismatic analyses, recalling worn pre-Neronian silver denarii and adjusting the metallic fineness of the denarius to roughly eighty-nine to ninety percent silver, with a target striking standard of roughly 3.15 to 3.25 grams. In the autumn of AD 114, diplomatic friction with the Parthian Empire over the client kingdom of Armenia culminated in active war, necessitating Trajan's departure for the eastern frontiers. At this precise historical moment, the Roman Senate bestowed upon the princeps the formal cognomen Optimus ('the Best'), an honorific previously used informally or on occasional inscriptions, now permanently elevated to official imperial nomenclature. RIC II Trajan 318 (denarius) reflects these concurrent developments: it monetized military readiness for the Parthian expeditions while disseminating Trajan's elevated status across all echelons of the empire.

Production and Mint Organization

RIC II Trajan 318 (denarius) was produced centrally at the mint of Rome (Moneta Augusti), which held a near-complete monopoly over regular imperial silver denarius output during this era. Under Trajan, the Rome mint operated under sophisticated administrative divisions, traditionally understood by numismatists as organized into multiple distinct officinae or working workshops. Bernhard Woytek's exhaustive corpus on Trajanic coinage assigns this emission to the transition into the eleventh major group of Trajan's coinage, spanning the initial adoption of the title Optimus in late AD 114. Die studies for this period indicate that the mint of Rome operated at extremely high capacity, preparing for the vast fiscal logistics of eastern warfare. Die-cutters worked within rigid typological standards while maintaining artistic plasticity in imperial portraiture. Blanks were cast in moulds, heated, and struck between hand-held engraved bronze or hardened iron dies with alignment that predominantly favored the traditional Roman medallic or inverted orientation (roughly six o'clock, with minor rotations common). The operational speed required to issue mass silver coinages in AD 114 generated substantial numbers of paired dies, confirming that RIC II Trajan 318 was struck as part of a major planned production run rather than an isolated presentation series.

Obverse Iconography and Execution

The obverse of RIC II Trajan 318 presents an imposing bust of Trajan facing right. The emperor is depicted wearing a laurel wreath tied at the nape of the neck with distinct ribbons falling down the neck, accompanied by drapery visible on the shoulder and chest. By AD 114, Trajanic portraiture had developed into its mature, late imperial form. The idealized, heroic realism of his decennalia and Dacian triumphal types evolved into a portrait marked by mature gravity, characterized by low bangs combed neatly over a broad forehead, prominent cheekbones, a strong aquiline nose, and a compressed, determined mouth. The drapery seen on this specific catalogued type introduces tactile layering over the imperial shoulder, contrasting with bare-necked or purely cuirassed varieties of neighboring types. The encircling legend begins low on the left and continues clockwise around the flan inside a beaded border, framing the portrait tightly. The die engraving balances the relief of the bust against the surrounding epigraphy to prevent excessive unevenness in striking, ensuring uniform flan fill across the central obverse field.

Reverse Iconography and Symbolism

The reverse of the denarius features Fortuna Redux, the divine personification of Fortune who secures a safe return. She is portrayed seated left on a low, backless chair or stool. She is draped in long flowing garments with a veil covering her hair, emphasizing sacred dignity and modest domestic virtue. In her right hand, lowered toward the ground, she grasps the tiller of a ship's rudder, symbolizing divine control over direction and maritime or land journeys. Cradled along her left arm is an overflowing cornucopiae, signifying abundance, prosperity, and the fruitful bounty brought home under imperial patronage. In Roman religious tradition, Fortuna Redux had been venerated since the Augustan settlement, particularly when emperors left Italy on arduous military campaigns. Her presence on this issue is tied directly to Trajan's impending departure for the Parthian front in late AD 114. The iconographic program reassured the Roman populace that the emperor's perilous foreign ventures would culminate in personal safety and collective imperial welfare. In the exergue beneath the ground line, the shortened dedication FORT RED appears cleanly segregated from the imperial titles that encircle the remaining perimeter of the field.

Epigraphy and Legends

The epigraphic structure of RIC II Trajan 318 is vital for establishing its precise historical placement. The obverse legend reads IMP CAES NER TRAIANO OPTIMO AVG GER DAC. Transcribed fully, it expands as Imperatori Caesari Nervae Traiano Optimo Augusto Germanico Dacico. Unusually for Roman coinage of this phase, the name is framed in the dative case (Traiano Optimo), indicating a dedicated grammatical structure equivalent to 'To the Emperor Caesar Nerva Trajan, the Best, Augustus, Germanicus, Dacicus', reflecting the Senate and People dedicating the issue to the ruler. The inclusion of OPTIMO provides the firm terminus post quem of autumn AD 114. The reverse legend, continuing the honorific dedication, reads P M TR P COS VI P P S P Q R along the perimeter and FORT RED in the exergue. This expands to Pontifici Maximo, Tribunicia Potestate, Consuli Sextum, Patri Patriae, Senatus Populusque Romanus, followed by Fortunae Reduci. The sequence affirms Trajan's offices as chief pontiff, holder of tribunician power, consul for the sixth time (an office entered in AD 112 and never renewed), and Father of the Fatherland, all sanctioned by the Senate and the Roman people. The exergual FORT RED explicitly identifies the seated divinity, completing a coherent ideological loop between civic honors and divine guardianship.

Typology and Chronological Placement

In the classical cataloguing system of Mattingly and Sydenham (RIC II), number 318 occupies an intermediate place between the long-running issues bearing Trajan's fifth and sixth consulships without the Optimus title, and the subsequent issues of AD 116 where the additional victory title Parthicus appears. Bernhard Woytek refined this sequence within his monograph Die Reichsprägung des Kaisers Traianus, cataloguing the dative-legend denarii with Fortuna Redux under his Vienna group 501/502 series produced during the autumn and winter of AD 114. RIC II Trajan 318 represents a specific bust variant within this broader typological set: specifically, the draped bust right with laurel wreath. It is distinguished from parallel sub-varieties that depict the bust as solely laureate with bare shoulders (RIC 315), or laureate with both drapery and a military cuirass (RIC 317). In older numismatic literature, minor variations in the abbreviation or placement of FORT RED (whether in the exergue or integrated within the peripheral inscription) were occasionally conflated, but systematic modern typology treats the exergual inscription paired with the draped bust as the definitive hallmark of type 318.

Circulation and Hoard Evidence

Following its production at Rome in AD 114, RIC II Trajan 318 entered dynamic circulation across the Roman Empire. Because this issue immediately preceded the logistical buildup for the eastern campaigns, substantial consignments of fresh denarii were transported eastward to Syria, Cappadocia, and Mesopotamia to pay legionaries, auxiliaries, and suppliers. Concurrently, regular administrative flows dispersed the type through the western limes along the Rhine and Danube frontiers, as well as the domestic markets of Italy and Hispania. Hoard evidence throughout the northern and western provinces, such as the thousands of imperial denarii discovered across Roman Britain, Gaul, and Germany, consistently shows Trajanic denarii of this phase circulating heavily alongside earlier Flavian and subsequent Hadrianic and Antonine silver. Due to their consistent post-107 silver fineness, these denarii remained in active commercial circulation for well over a century, frequently appearing in hoards deposited during the Severan period and the Crisis of the Third Century, where they often exhibit considerable honest wear earned through decades of hand-to-hand transaction.

References

1. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, Volume III: Nerva to Hadrian. pp. 102-104
2. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC II Trajan 318 (denarius). Type ric.2.tr.318_denarius
3. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Volume II: Vespasian to Hadrian. p. 266, no. 318
4. Die Reichsprägung des Kaisers Traianus (98-117). Moneta Imperii Romani 14. vol. 14, emission 501/502