Trajan Silver Denarius, RIC II Trajan 745 (denarius)

Monetary Context and Imperial Consecration

During the reign of Trajan (AD 98 to 117), the Roman monetary system maintained the bimetallic and base metal framework established under Augustus and adjusted during the Flavian era. The denarius functioned as the primary silver denomination of the empire, serving civil administration, military payrolls, market commerce, and state taxation. Trajan initiated significant monetary operations during his principate, notably the calling in and melting down of worn, pre-Neronian silver coinage following his Dacian campaigns, an operation recorded by Cassius Dio and corroborated by hoard evidence. This demonetisation allowed the imperial treasury to recoin older silver at the standard fineness and weight adopted in the post-Neronian era, around 80 to 85 percent silver purity with an average mass slightly above three grams. Within this circulating medium, commemorative and consecration coinages served a dual economic and ideological purpose. When Marciana, Trajan's elder sister, died around AD 112, she was promptly voted divine honors by the Senate at the emperor's behest. Consecration issues for women were not unprecedented, having occurred for figures such as Drusilla under Caligula, Claudia Augusta under Nero, and Flavia Domitilla under the Flavians. However, the Ulpian consecration series, which encompassed Marciana and later her daughter Matidia, represented an intensive dynastic statement. In the absence of a male heir, elevating the women of the imperial household to divine status emphasised the unique virtue and heavenly favor bestowed upon the Ulpian line, anchoring the political stability of Trajan's principate.

Mint Organization and Production Standards

The entire regular production of RIC II Trajan 745 (denarius) is attributed to the imperial mint situated in Rome. During the middle to late reign of Trajan, the Rome mint operated under a highly organized officina structure, handling massive volumes of gold and silver output fueled by the bullion reserves acquired from the conquest of Dacia. Numismatic studies by modern scholars, including Bernhard Woytek in his corpus Moneta Imperii Romani (MIR 14), demonstrate that the mint operated with coordinated teams of celators and administrators responsible for engraving dies, adjusting planchet weights, and striking coin blanks in precise metallurgical batches. The silver alloy employed for this issue conformed to the standard Trajanic denarius baseline, possessing a fineness hovering between 80 and 82 percent silver, with copper forming the remaining debasement alloy. The target weight standard for Trajanic denarii was pegged at approximately 1/96th of a Roman pound (libra), yielding a nominal individual weight around 3.25 to 3.30 grams, although normal variations in blank preparation produced individual specimens distributed across a broader range from roughly 2.80 to 3.60 grams. Planchets were cast in round moulds or prepared from severed rods, heated, and struck between hand-held engraved bronze or iron dies. Die axis alignment at Rome was predominantly regular, adhering mostly to a 6 o'clock or 12 o'clock orientation, reflecting the structured striking procedures of the capital workshop.

Obverse Iconography and Imperial Portraiture

The obverse of RIC II Trajan 745 presents a draped bust of the deified Marciana facing right. Portraiture of Diva Marciana is characterized by an intricate and stately coiffure that exemplifies the aristocratic hair fashion of the high Trajanic court. The hair is parted, swept upwards from the temples, and piled into a high, tiered structure over the forehead, secured behind a crescent-shaped diadem or stephane, while the rear tresses are gathered into a compact coil or braided chignon positioned high on the crown. The drapery is arranged neatly across the truncation, covering the neck and shoulder line in dignified Roman matronly attire. This sculpted portrait style closely reflects the official metropolitan court style seen in public marble sculpture produced in Rome following her death. Numismatic iconography deliberately balanced individual physical traits, such as her mature facial features and prominent jawline reminiscent of her brother Trajan, with idealizing conventions suitable for a divinised empress. The diadem in particular served as an emblem of imperial status and divine elevation, marking the transition of Marciana from an earthly Augusta to a heavenly Diva.

Reverse Iconography and the Eagle of Consecratio

The reverse type of RIC II Trajan 745 illustrates an eagle advancing or walking toward the right atop a horizontal sceptre, with its head turned back to the left. The eagle, the sacred bird of Jupiter Capitolinus, was the primary symbol of Roman imperial consecratio. In funeral rituals for male emperors, a live eagle was famously released from the summit of the pyre to carry the soul of the deceased ruler directly to the realm of the gods. For imperial women, the peacock of Juno was frequently deployed in later Roman consecration imagery, yet during the early second century AD, the Jovian eagle was routinely employed for female apotheosis as well, underscoring their full integration into supreme heavenly honors. In this type, the eagle is rendered with wings slightly spread or resting against its flanks, gripping a sceptre beneath its talons. The sceptre represents divine rule, authority, and eternity. The backward turn of the eagle's head provides visual dynamic balance to the composition, uniting the bird's posture with the enclosing circular inscription. The craftsmanship across dies reveals careful rendering of plumage on the mantle, wings, and legs, reflecting the high standards maintained by the master engravers of the Rome mint.

Inscriptions and Epigraphic Meaning

The legends on RIC II Trajan 745 are notable for their conciseness and clear religious messaging, omitting the extensive titulature and magistracies typical of Trajan's regular administrative issues. The obverse legend reads DIVA AVGVSTA MARCIANA. Struck continuously along the perimeter, this inscription records the formal posthumous title awarded to Marciana by a senatorial decree of deification. The term 'Diva' signifies her divine status, while 'Augusta' preserves the supreme title she had borne during her earthly life since approximately AD 105. By naming her directly as Diva Augusta, the legend affirms her eternal membership within the imperial pantheon. The reverse carries a single, potent word: CONSECRATIO. Positioned in the upper and outer fields above and around the eagle, this legend explicitly identifies the ritual and legal act of apotheosis. The word served as a public proclamation to the army, provinces, and people of Rome that Marciana had been officially enrolled among the gods of the Roman state, legitimising the cult dedicated to her memory.

Typology and Chronological Placement

In the standard reference work The Roman Imperial Coinage (RIC), Harold Mattingly and Edward A. Sydenham catalogued this denarius as RIC II Trajan 745, placing it among the posthumous issues of Trajan's reign. In his modern typological and chronological corpus, Bernhard Woytek classified this type under MIR 14, assigning the consecration issues of Marciana to the period between AD 112 and 114. The exact year of Marciana's death is generally placed in AD 112, based on the epigraphic record of the Fasti Ostienses, which indicates that her funeral took place and her daughter Matidia was granted the title of Augusta in that year. While general catalogues such as Online Coins of the Roman Empire (OCRE) assign a broad nominal date range spanning Trajan's entire reign (AD 98 to 117) to accommodate umbrella database structures, specialized numismatic consensus confines the striking of this specific type to the immediate aftermath of her deification in AD 112, possibly continuing into AD 113 or 114. The type is closely related to companion issues struck in gold (aurei) bearing identical or complementary reverse motifs, as well as variant denarii displaying a peacock or an eagle perched upon a thunderbolt or globe.

Hoard Evidence and Circulation

Although RIC II Trajan 745 was struck as a commemorative coin, it possessed standard legal-tender status and circulated freely alongside regular issues throughout the Roman world. Consecration denarii for Marciana were produced in considerably smaller quantities than Trajan's mass-volume military and civil coinages, making them much less frequent in the archaeological record than issues commemorating the Dacian victories or personifying imperial virtues. Nevertheless, specimens appear in both western and eastern provincial hoards buried during the mid-second and early third centuries AD. Because imperial silver coins were hoarded primarily on the basis of their weight and silver content, Marciana's consecration denarii remained in active circulation through the reigns of Hadrian and the Antonine emperors. Progressive wear patterns observed on excavated specimens demonstrate that these commemorative coins circulated for decades before being hoarded, lost, or swept into the comprehensive recoinage operations of the third century AD.

References

1. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, Volume III: Nerva to Hadrian. pp. 124-126
2. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC II Trajan 745 (denarius). ric.2.tr.745_denarius
3. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Volume II: Vespasian to Hadrian. p. 299, no. 745
4. Die Reichsprägung des Kaisers Traianus (98–117), Moneta Imperii Romani 14. MIR 14, no. 719