Trajan Silver Denarius RIC II Trajan 172

Monetary Context and Economic Function

The denarius cataloged as RIC II Trajan 172 formed part of a massive transformation in imperial silver output during the middle years of Trajan's reign. Following the conquest of Dacia in AD 101 to 102 and AD 105 to 106, the Roman treasury acquired an immense quantity of precious metals, famously recorded by ancient commentators such as Cassius Dio. This sudden influx of Dacian gold and silver provided the fiscal base for unprecedented civic construction, lavish imperial games, extensive distribution of cash hand-outs to the populace, and the systematic retirement and reminting of worn Republican and early Julio-Claudian coinages, as discussed by Bernhard Woytek in his fundamental study of Trajanic coinage. Within this high-volume monetary environment, the denarius remained the universal accounting and payment denomination of the imperial administration. It was regular payment for legionaries, provincial administrators, and municipal contractors, while circulating alongside provincial bronze issues and eastern cistophori. Trajan maintained the fineness of the denarius at approximately 85 to 90 percent silver with a target standard around 3.2 to 3.4 grams, balancing fiscal extraction with broad commercial acceptability across Mediterranean markets.

Production Standards and Mint Organization

RIC II Trajan 172 was produced exclusively at the central imperial mint in Rome. During the early second century AD, the Rome mint operated under a highly organized departmental structure composed of multiple officinae that divided the labor of die engraving, flan casting, striking, and quality inspection. Silver flans were cast in spherical molds or cut from cast strips, heated to malleable temperatures, and struck between hand-held engraved bronze dies. Because striking was executed manually, individual surviving specimens exhibit slight variations in flan shape, centering, strike depth, and axis alignment, typically clustering near a six o'clock or twelve o'clock die orientation. The high artistic quality of the dies reflects the work of seasoned engravers who achieved a naturalistic three-dimensional relief for the imperial portrait. Weight distributions for this type conform closely to Trajan's prevailing denarius standard, clustering between 3.10 and 3.45 grams with diameters typically measuring between 18 and 20 millimeters. Trajan's Rome mint maintained rigorous metallurgical controls, ensuring uniform intrinsic value across the millions of denarii issued during his prolonged fifth consulship.

Obverse Iconography and Imperial Image

The obverse of RIC II Trajan 172 presents an authoritative right-facing portrait bust of Trajan. The emperor is depicted wearing a laurel wreath tied at the nape of the neck with fluttering ribbons. His attire features delicate drapery over a military cuirass, often visible at the back or front of the truncated neck truncation, though subtle engraving variations across individual dies depict varying amounts of drapery or exposed cuirass plates. Trajan's facial features conform to the classicizing, sober realism that characterized his middle portraiture: a firm, square jawline, pronounced cheekbones, straight nose, and hair combed straight forward over the forehead in the austere style reminiscent of Augustus. This artistic presentation served an overt ideological purpose, setting aside the ornate styling favored by Domitian in favor of an image emphasizing republican modesty, military discipline, and steadfast civic virtue. The portrait is framed by a continuous circular inscription set inside a fine border of dots.

Reverse Design and Symbolic Program

The reverse of the coin features Felicitas, the personification of divine favor, civic happiness, and flourishing well-being. She stands facing left, draped in a long stola reaching her feet with a palla wrapped around her torso and over her arm. In her right hand, she elevates a caduceus, the winged rod entwined with serpents that served as the ancient symbol of peace, balanced governance, and profitable commerce. In her left arm, she cradles a cornucopiae, overflowing with fruits and ears of grain, directly symbolizing abundance and the material fertility guaranteed by stable imperial rule. This juxtaposition of attributes conveyed a precise message to the Roman public: the military victories celebrated by the emperor's titles had achieved internal peace, commercial vibrancy, and material plenty. The composition balances verticality and motion, with Felicitas's poised posture and elegant drapery folds exemplifying the refined sculptural traditions maintained by the Rome mint during Trajan's middle reign.

Epigraphy and Titulature

The legends on both faces of RIC II Trajan 172 articulate the constitutional and moral authority of the emperor through standard Roman epigraphic conventions. The obverse legend reads IMP TRAIANO AVG GER DAC P M TR P COS V P P, expanding to Imperatori Traiano Augusto Germanico Dacico, Pontifici Maximo, Tribunicia Potestate, Consuli Quintum, Patri Patriae. This dedication in the dative case specifies that the coinage honors Trajan as commander, Augustus, victor over the Germans and Dacians, supreme pontiff, holder of the tribunician power, consul for the fifth time, and father of his country. The reverse legend, S P Q R OPTIMO PRINCIPI, expands to Senatus Populusque Romanus Optimo Principi, meaning 'The Senate and the Roman People to the Best of Princes.' This prominent formula, which Trajan formally accepted around AD 103, underscored the perceived harmony between the princeps, the Senate, and the citizenry. The use of the dative case throughout both legends frames the entire issue as an honorary monument struck by communal consent.

Typology and Chronological Placement

The dating of RIC II Trajan 172 rests upon the epigraphic markers preserved in the imperial titulature. The obverse records Trajan's fifth consulship (COS V), which commenced on January 1, AD 103, alongside the victory title Dacicus (DAC), adopted late in AD 102. The reverse formula S P Q R OPTIMO PRINCIPI became standard on Trajan's coinage starting in AD 103. The issue terminated before Trajan entered his sixth consulship (COS VI) on January 1, AD 112, establishing a general chronological bracket of AD 103 to 111. In his comprehensive die-analytical corpus, Bernhard Woytek classifies the denarii bearing the COS V and OPTIMO PRINCIPI legends into progressive chronological groups based on portrait development and legend arrangements, placing this Felicitas standing type within the middle phases of Trajan's fifth consulship series (Woytek MIR 14, type 274b). RIC II Trajan 172 is distinguished typologically from neighboring variants by the combination of bust drapery, cuirass, and the specific upright posture of Felicitas with her attributes, differentiating it from types where Felicitas holds a patera, leans on a column, or sits upon a throne.

Circulation Patterns and Archaeological Evidence

Denarii of RIC II Trajan 172 circulated throughout the Roman Mediterranean and along the northern military frontiers. Specimens appear regularly in both small commercial hoards and large institutional savings deposits unearthed across Britain, Gaul, the Rhineland, the Danubian provinces, and the Italian heartland. Because Trajan struck the fifth consulship denarii in massive volumes, issues such as RIC 172 remained in active circulation for several decades after Trajan's death in AD 117. Hoard data from the Antonine and early Severan periods demonstrate that Trajanic denarii continued to circulate alongside coins of Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius. Their survival in circulation gradually declined toward the late second and early third centuries, as the progressive silver debasements under Septimius Severus and Caracalla incentivized the hoarding or melting down of finer early second-century silver pieces pursuant to Gresham's Law. Stray finds from frontier castra and rural settlements confirm that the type functioned as everyday currency for legionary stipends and local trade.

References

1. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, Volume III: Nerva to Hadrian. pp. 67-68, nos. 272-276
2. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC II Trajan 172. ric.2.tr.172
3. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Volume II: Vespasian to Hadrian. p. 257, no. 172
4. Die Reichsprägung des Kaisers Traianus (98-117 n. Chr.), Moneta Imperii Romani 14. type 274b