Vespasian Bronze As, RIC II, Part 1 (second edition) Vespasian 317

Monetary Context and Denominational System

The accession of Vespasian in late AD 69 ended the destructive civil wars of the Year of the Four Emperors and brought an urgent need to re-stabilize the Roman imperial monetary system. During the campaigns of Galba, Otho, and Vitellius, precious metal issues had been minted sporadically across diverse provincial and military workshops, while base-metal civic production had faced extensive disruptions. Upon consolidating power at Rome, the new Flavian administration embarked on a sweeping program of administrative and fiscal reform designed to replenish the treasury and reassert centralized monetary control. Within the traditional Augustan denomination system, the as functioned as the standard unit of everyday retail exchange. Valued at one-sixteenth of a silver denarius and one-fourth of a brass sestertius, the as was essential for quotidian urban transactions, soldier stipends, market purchases, and regional trade. Augustus had established the as as an unalloyed copper denomination, contrasting with the zinc-rich brass (orichalcum) reserved for the sestertius and dupondius. Under Vespasian, this metal division was broadly continued, though metallurgical analyses show slight variations in copper purity across different Flavian production runs. RIC II, Part 1 (second edition) Vespasian 317 represents a vital component of this revived token economy, providing predictable, high-volume base currency while broadcasting the political legitimacy of the new regime.

Production and Mint Organization

Catalogue type RIC II, Part 1 (second edition) Vespasian 317 was produced exclusively at the primary imperial mint in Rome. In AD 71, the Rome mint underwent a massive expansion in capacity to manufacture the large volume of bronze and orichalcum coinage demanded by fiscal recovery and monumental building projects. Although branch workshops operated temporarily in places such as Lugdunum and in eastern administrative centers during the early Flavian period, stylistic analysis securely anchors this altar type to Rome. The mint of Rome employed a sophisticated division of labor, organized into distinct officinae (workshops) responsible for specific denominations and reverse types. The manufacture of asses involved casting circular copper planchets in open or bipartite molds, followed by edge adjustment and hot or cold die-striking. Asses of this series typically adhere to an average weight standard of 10.0 to 11.0 grams, though surviving specimens show a normal distribution spanning roughly 9.0 to 12.5 grams, with flan diameters averaging between 27 and 29 millimeters. Die alignment is predominantly six o'clock (reverse inverted relative to obverse), typical of the systematic mechanical standards enforced by the imperial monetarii at Rome. Production output for the base-metal issues of AD 71 was exceptionally high, reflecting an imperial strategy to replace worn Julio-Claudian fractional coins and drive civil reconstruction.

Obverse Iconography and Imperial Portraiture

The obverse of RIC 317 displays the laureate head of Vespasian facing right. Flavian portraiture represented a dramatic departure from the youthful, Hellenistic-influenced court classicism of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, particularly the idealized imagery favored under Nero. Instead, Flavian die-engravers adopted a pronounced veristic style that evoked traditional Republican virtues of gravitas, severitas, and practical competence. Vespasian is depicted as an aging, mature general with distinct individualistic features: a broad, furrowed brow, deeply etched lines around the mouth and eyes, prominent jowls, and a square, unyielding jaw. The laurel wreath (corona triumphalis) resting upon his cropped hair serves as both a sign of divine favor and a direct symbol of his military victories in Judaea and against internal rivals. The rightward orientation was the dominant portrait direction across the Rome mint's bronze output, signaling continuity and institutional authority. On asses of this series, the head is typically shown bare-necked, terminating cleanly above the inscription without drapery or cuirass, focusing visual attention entirely on the emperor's austere countenance.

Reverse Design: The Ara Providentiae

The reverse of the coin is dominated by a grand, rectangular altar enclosure, accompanied by the inscription PROVIDENT and the letters S C placed in the field to the left and right. The altar structure is rendered with architectural precision: it features a raised podium, paneled double doors or ornamental relief panels on its front facade, prominent corner pilasters or acroteria, and flames rising from the burning hearth above. This composition represents the Ara Providentiae Augustae, an altar consecrated at Rome to honor the divine foresight and protective care of the imperial office. The Providentia altar motif had a storied numismatic heritage, having been introduced under Tiberius to honor the posthumous foresight of Divus Augustus in securing the empire and arranging the succession. By reviving this specific architectural image in AD 71, Vespasian consciously engaged in dynastic signaling. Having brought an end to systemic civil strife, Vespasian utilized the concept of Providentia to assure the Roman populace and the Senate that the empire was once again secure, guided by an emperor whose forethought ensured long-term peace and institutional stability. Furthermore, with his adult sons Titus and Domitian already established as active junior colleagues, the altar subtly advertised hereditary dynastic continuity as a permanent remedy against future succession crises.

Inscriptions and Epigraphic Analysis

The obverse legend reads IMP CAES VESPASIAN AVG COS III, running clockwise from the lower left around the portrait. This sequence encapsulates Vespasian's constitutional standing in AD 71. The opening title 'Imperator' (IMP) functions as a praenomen, underscoring supreme military command and the army's allegiance. 'Caesar' (CAES) and 'Augustus' (AVG) assert dynastic legitimacy and supreme civil dignity, adopting the revered nomenclature of the founding princeps. The closing element, 'Consul Tertium' (COS III), provides the vital chronological anchor, recording that the coin was struck during Vespasian's third consulship, which commenced on January 1, AD 71. The reverse legend is divided between the conceptual title and the constitutional authority. The abbreviation PROVIDENT stands for Providentia (or Providentiae Augusti), identifying the civic virtue commemorated by the sacrificial altar. Across the lower field, flanking the altar structure, are the large letters S C, signifying 'Senatus Consulto' (by decree of the Senate). While the emperor held absolute practical control over the state mint, the traditional inclusion of S C on base-metal bronze and copper denominations maintained the constitutional fiction of senatorial oversight in public currency. This polite deference to traditional Republican forms was central to Vespasian's political reconciliation with the Roman senatorial aristocracy.

Typology and Chronological Classification

Within the revised classification of Roman Imperial Coinage, Volume II, Part 1 (second edition, 2007), entry 317 isolates the specific Rome-mint bronze as featuring Vespasian's laureate head right with obverse legend IMP CAES VESPASIAN AVG COS III paired with the PROVIDENT altar reverse. In the original 1926 first edition of RIC II by Mattingly and Sydenham, Flavian aes types were catalogued under broader, less rigorous groupings that occasionally conflated mint attributions or variant legend breaks. The type is chronologically bounded to AD 71 by the iteration of the consular title COS III. Later issues of the Providentia altar type produced in AD 72 and onward feature updated consular numerals such as COS IIII or later additions like the title Censor (CENS). The type is also distinguished from contemporaneous dupondii of AD 71: while dupondii carried radiate crowns to signal double the value of an as, RIC 317 bears a laureate wreath and was struck on a reddish copper flan rather than yellow brass. Small stylistic sub-varieties exist within RIC 317, particularly in the fine execution of the altar panels, the presence or absence of festoons, and the exact rendering of the burning hearth, illustrating the activity of multiple die-engravers working simultaneously within the Rome officinae.

Circulation, Hoards, and Archaeological Context

Asses of the early Flavian period were the workhorses of Roman currency and circulated extensively throughout the Mediterranean world and the western provinces. Findspots for RIC 317 and related AD 71 bronze issues are concentrated in Italy, Gaul, the Rhineland frontier, and Britain, following the distribution of Roman military installations, urban markets, and major trade routes. Large numbers of these coins entered circulation to pay legionaries stationed in garrison zones along the Rhine and Danube, rapidly filtering into surrounding civil settlements (vici). Because of their base-metal nature and low intrinsic value, asses rarely formed part of precious-metal savings hoards buried for capital preservation. Instead, they are found primarily as lost site finds in urban excavations, temple votive deposits, military encampments, and mixed aes currency hoards. Due to decades of intensive circulation, surviving specimens frequently exhibit moderate to heavy surface wear, corrosion from acidic soils, or countermarks applied during subsequent reigns to extend their validity. The broad geographic dispersal of this issue confirms the effectiveness of the Flavian monetary recovery, ensuring that Vespasian's visual rhetoric of stability and divine foresight reached all levels of Roman provincial society.

References

1. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, Volume II: Vespasian to Domitian. pp. 120-125
2. Coinage in the Roman World. pp. 80-95
3. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Volume II, Part 1: From AD 69 to 96, Vespasian to Domitian (Second Edition). p. 75, no. 317
4. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC II, Part 1 (second edition) Vespasian 317. ric.2_1(2).ves.317