Domitian AR Denarius, 90/91 AD

Here's one of the first coins of my collection, a denarius of Domitian from 90/91 AD. The obverse features a laureate portrait of Domitian facing right, with the legend IMP CAES DOMIT AVG GERM P M TR P X. The reverse has the goddess of war (and wisdom, poetry, medicine, and crafts), Minerva, standing left and holding a spear. The reverse legend reads IMP XXI COS XV CENS P P P. The RIC reference is 155. The coin is dated by the "TR P X" reference. TR P X means that, when the coin was struck, Domitian was serving his tenth term as Tribune of the People, which he assumed in September 90 AD. He assumed that office for the eleventh time in September 91 AD, so this coin dates somewhere in between those dates.

Domitian suffers from a severe biographical disadvantage, and thus so do modern historians wishing to study the man. The two leading second century Roman historians - Suetonius and Tacitus - who wrote on the life of Rome's first emperors were severely biased against Domitian. Tacitus bore a personal grudge against him (after the emperor recalled Tacitus's father-in-law, the general Agricola, from Britain) and Suetonius, in fact, was employed by the very faction that had Domitian assassinated. Popular belief, therefore, is that Domitian was a blatant autocrat who had little regard for the Senatorial class. True, toward the end of his reign Domitian initiated a paranoid purge of the Senate, but evidence exists that Domitian was well respected by the military and was a particularly effective administrator. For example, Domitian personally oversaw military operations in Germania. Contrast that active role with Nero, who sent the future emperor Vespasian to deal with the Judaean revolt while he himself embarked on an "artistic tour" of Greece. Yet, though his domestic and military administration was quite good, Domitian made little effort to hide the fact that he sought to create a blatant autocracy. Particularly egregious was his assumption of the office of Censor for life. This ultimately led to his downfall.

Two things are particularly interesting about this fairly common issue, besides the fact that the coin is in nearly extremely fine condition, notwithstanding a partial weak reverse legend. The first concerns the obverse portrait. As I said above, Domitian sought to create a naked autocracy, somewhat modeled on the kingdoms of the East. As such, his portrait conveys the glorification of the emperor through semi-divine characteristics such as the expressions of the facial features.

The second interesting thing is the reverse image of Minerva. While Domitian followed the abstract reverse types of the two preceding Flavian emperors, Vespasian and Titus, Domitian paid special respect to the goddess Minerva. The image of this deity is by far the most abundant reverse image on Domitian's coins.

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