Trajan Silver Denarius, RIC II Trajan 98

Monetary and Historical Context

The issue of RIC II Trajan 98 belongs to the triumphant middle phase of Trajan's reign, when Rome completed its campaigns north of the Danube. Following the First Dacian War (AD 101-102) and the definitive annexation of Dacia after the Second Dacian War (AD 105-106), massive quantities of captured gold and silver flowed directly into the imperial treasury. Contemporary and subsequent historical traditions, notably reflected in the writings of Cassius Dio and John Lydus, record staggering spoils from King Decebalus's hoard, providing Trajan with unprecedented liquid capital. This bullion windfall had immediate consequences for Roman imperial currency. Trajan undertook an extensive monetary reform and reminting program, which included the demonetization and recall of worn Republican and early Julio-Claudian silver denarii described by Pliny the Younger. The denarius during this period was maintained at a standard weight of approximately 3.2 to 3.4 grams, with an average silver purity hovering between 89 and 93 percent, slightly adjusted downward during Trajan's monetary reorganization. Type RIC II Trajan 98 functioned within this context not merely as everyday specie for commerce and military pay, but as a celebratory vehicle broadcasting the pacification and annexation of the new province to citizens, soldiers, and provincial populations.

Production and Mints

Production of RIC II Trajan 98 was centered entirely at the central imperial mint in Rome. During the middle years of Trajan's reign, the mint operated with a sophisticated divisional structure composed of multiple officinae, which coordinated the preparation of carefully prepared circular flans, engraving of steel dies, and striking. Flans were cast in individual molds or sliced from cast rods before being brought to temperature and struck between hand-held upper dies and anvil-seated lower dies. Die studies carried out by Bernhard Woytek (classifying this issue under MIR 14, type 283) demonstrate that the Dacian captive series engaged a substantial number of active die pairs, indicating intensive, high-volume striking over multiple months or years. The mint preserved tight technical consistency in flan preparation and striking axes, with die orientations typically adhering closely to an upright or inverted alignment (approximate six o'clock or twelve o'clock positions). The quality of the Rome mint's engraving reached a technical zenith in this era, balancing high-relief portraiture on the obverse with complex multi-element compositions on the reverse.

Obverse Portraiture and Attributes

The obverse of RIC II Trajan 98 depicts the right-facing head or bust of Trajan. The emperor is shown wearing a laurel wreath, tied at the back of the head with ribbons that drape gracefully downward onto the neck. Trajan is portrayed with characteristic middle-period features: a strong, square jaw, a prominent aquiline nose, clean-shaven cheeks, and straight hair combed forward across the forehead in neat, disciplined locks, deliberately evoking Augustus. Engravers executed slight stylistic variations within this established type. While many specimens feature a simple bare neck terminating at the truncated base, others present drapery gathered over the far left shoulder, creating a more formal paludamentum effect. These minor drapery differences reflect the liberty of individual die cutters within the Rome mint rather than distinct sub-issues or institutional reorganizations. The portrait radiates the quiet, austere authority that Trajan cultivated in contrast to the reviled personal imagery of Domitian.

Reverse Iconography: Dacia Capta

The reverse of RIC II Trajan 98 presents one of the most evocative allegorical representations of provincial subjugation in ancient numismatics. A captive Dacian figure sits facing left upon a disordered heap of captured arms and military equipment. The figure is cast down in an attitude of profound dejection and mourning: the torso hunches forward, the right or left elbow rests on the knee, and the head is supported in an open hand or lowered in despondency. The figure is depicted in distinct national costume, wearing a peaked Phrygian-style cap (pileus), long trousers (braccae), and a heavy tunic or cloak. Beneath and around the captive lie the spoils of victory: curved Dacian swords (falces), long spears, hexagonal and oval shields, and carnyces (Celtic and Dacian war trumpets terminating in open animal jaws). The composition deliberately draws upon the earlier Flavian iconographic tradition of IVDAEA CAPTA, transposing the motif of the weeping, seated provincial personification into the Danubian theater to celebrate the complete submission of a formidable northern adversary.

Inscriptions and Epigraphy

The obverse inscription reads continuously clockwise: IMP TRAIANO AVG GER DAC P M TR P. This formula abbreviates Trajan's official imperial titulature: 'Imperatori Traiano Augusto Germanico Dacico, Pontifici Maximo, Tribunicia Potestate' (To the Emperor Trajan Augustus, conqueror of the Germans, conqueror of the Dacians, Chief Priest, invested with Tribunician Power). The inclusion of the honorific DAC (Dacicus), officially awarded following the First Dacian War in AD 102, provides a critical terminus post quem for the issue. The reverse inscription surrounds the upper periphery and concludes in the exergue: COS V P P S P Q R OPTIMO PRINC, accompanied by the bold declaration DAC CAP in the field or exergue. The peripheral legend translates as: 'Consuli Quinto, Patri Patriae, Senatus Populusque Romanus Optimo Principi' (Consul for the fifth time, Father of his Country; the Senate and the Roman People [dedicate this] to the Best of Princes). The title 'Optimus Princeps' had been conferred informally and appears increasingly across the coinage of this period, while DAC CAP explicitly identifies the scene as 'Dacia Capta' (Dacia conquered). The lettering is neat, regular, and executed in classic Roman square capitals.

Typology and Chronological Sequence

The dating of RIC II Trajan 98 relies heavily on the consular notation COS V, designating Trajan's fifth consulship, which commenced on January 1, AD 103, and was not superseded until his sixth consulship began on January 1, AD 112. Because the legend spans an extensive nine-year interval, numismatists have refined the chronology through epigraphic development and historical contextualization. Paul L. Strack and Bernhard Woytek demonstrated that the DAC CAP series did not begin immediately in AD 103, because the definitive defeat of Decebalus and final annexation of the province did not take place until AD 106. The production of the Dacia Capta series (Woytek group 7/8, MIR 14, 283) is thus securely assigned to the years following the conclusion of the second campaign, primarily between AD 107 and AD 111, coinciding with Trajan's celebrated triumph in Rome and the initiation of his grand public construction works. Minor variations within the type include slight shifts in the placement of the DAC CAP label, appearing either horizontally in the exergue or divided across the lower reverse fields.

Circulation, Hoards, and Afterlife

RIC II Trajan 98 was produced in substantial numbers and entered general circulation across the entire expanse of the Roman Empire. Evidence from imperial coin hoards recovered across Britain, Gaul, the Rhine frontier, the Danube provinces, and Italy demonstrates that these denarii circulated actively alongside other middle-period Trajanic issues. Significant hoard deposits, such as the Shapwick Villa hoard in Britain and various Danubian military hoards, contain well-worn examples of this type alongside coins of Hadrian and the Antonine emperors. Because of their sound silver content, Trajan's denarii remained in currency long after his death in AD 117. They continued to circulate through the second and into the early third centuries AD, gradually falling out of use only after the inflationary debasements of Septimius Severus and Caracalla drove higher-grade second-century silver from active circulation in accordance with Gresham's law. Even centuries after striking, the striking image of the mourned Dacian captive retained symbolic resonance as the quintessential emblem of Roman Danubian victory.

References

1. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, Vol. III: Nerva to Hadrian. p. 65, nos. 385-390
2. RIC II Trajan 98, Online Coins of the Roman Empire (OCRE). ric.2.tr.98
3. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Vol. II: Vespasian to Hadrian. p. 252, no. 98
4. Untersuchungen zur romischen Reichspragung des zweiten Jahrhunderts, Teil I: Die Reichspragung zur Zeit des Traian. pp. 115-122
5. Die Reichspragung des Kaisers Traianus (98-117). MIR 14, type 283, pp. 291-295