Titus, Judea Capita

This is another NYINC pick-up A couple of issues but overall a nice coin with historical significance. I also like that TITUS is in the legend and is read from outside the coin.

Titus. Denarius. Rome, 79 AD.
"Judea Capita"
Obv: IMP TITVS CAES VESPASIAN AVG PM, Head laureate right.
Rx: TR P VIIII IMP XIIII COS VII PP, male captive, bound, kneeling in front of trophy

Sear 2493: “- bound captive a foot of trophy. RIC 17 BMCRE 30. CBN -. C 296. [Rome 79.]
This reverse and the following refer either to victory over Judea or…activities in northern Britain of celebrated governor Gnaenus Julius Agricola, father-in-law of historian Tacitus”

Because of the "IMP XIIII" refers to the year 67 I believe it does commemorate a victory Titus in Judea.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titus

 

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Nice portrait, I upgraded mine recently too but wont be sharing it for a bit.

 

Very nice. I saw one of these for sale on Ebay last night, but it was in horrible condition. This one is in real nice condition. Congrats.

 

I agree this is a Judaea type. There is extra demand for anything associated with the Jewish revolt. Obviously the big gun is the Vespasian sestertius with Judaea Capta legends. The plain Judaea denarius is very common but in great demand followed by several victory types including this one. It is a perfectly presentable middle of the road specimen. Flavian and earlier denarii are soft enough that they scratch easily. That makes coins with pristine surfaces sell for more.

My Vespasian has the captive seated under a trophy of arms. I prefer the other variation with the palm tree instead of the trophy. I bought this one in a recent Frank Robinson sale which quoted the same specimen having brought more in one of his sales several years ago. I guess Frank's clientele are getting pickier as to condition so they don't bid high on mid-grade coins???

 

Sweet coin, TJC => I love the reverse (congrats)

 

Col addition! Heres teh closest I have

 

I think the attribution of RIC 17 is incorrect, at least according to my copy of RIC Volume II Part I Second Fully Revised Edition. It actually appears to be RIC 30, whose reverse is described as "Trophy; below, captive kneeling r." There is also an illustration in this volume that is the same as this coin.

Maybe the difference is due to the newer version of Volume II?

 

I think the difference has to be the newer version. My older copy of RIC places this as RIC 17.

 

Ides & Bing, thanks for the heads up on the RIC #
I did notice that references I have disagreed.

Nice coin ranygek! Its Vespasian right? I have one that is similar; maybe the same. Can't find my pics.

 

Doug, I forgot to say, Nice Coin! I like your type a lot! May have to look into one of those sometime.

Here is the Flavian clan together
Sorry for the poor I-phone pics but that is what is available now.

 

that's a nice lookin' group TJC.

 

I'm somewhat puzzled by the heading of this article. Shouldn't it read "Judaea Capta", and where did the date "67" come from ? I don't believe for one minute that this coin relates to the Jewish War. I suggest that the article by J.M. Cody (2003) in "Conquerors and Conquered on Flavian Coins" be read in depth.

 

The coin is Titus RIC 49. Dated TRP VIII IMP XV COS VII. The type was also struck for Titus as Caesar under Vespasian and could indeed harken back to Titus' role in the Jewish War, a reminder of past glories. Others have argued it could be for a British victory, but if so, why was it only struck for Titus and not Vespasian? Surely a contemporary victory would be celebrated on the reigning emperor's denarii too!

Orwell refers to Cody's article which says this about the reverse: "That the type was issued both before and after Vespasian's death and Titus' accession merely alludes to Titus' support of the campaign under his father's authority and to his own endorsement of Agricola's command once he himself became emperor." I'm not entirely convinced. It still doesn't answer the question as to why the type was not minted for Vespasian too if it was for a contemporary victory.

IMP XIIII or XV do not refer to any Jewish War imperial acclamations from 10 years before. They most likely were awarded for Agricola's campaigns in Scotland.

At any rate it is a wonderful piece! Enjoy it.

 

Vespasian was dead by the time that this coin was issued. The coin commemorates the Roman victory in SCOTLAND under Titus in the latter part of AD79. For more recent treatment of this issue I would recommend S. Wolfson's book "Tacitus, Thule and Caledonia (Oxford 2008) Appendix 3, "The coinage of Titus and Agricola's Caledonian Campaign of AD79".

 

The same type was struck for Titus as Caesar under Vespasian as well, RIC 1076.

Thank you for the reading recommendation, but as a Flavian enthusiast I have already read it.

 

You are quite right on the date. We should read IMP XV. I'm glad to hear that you are a "Flavian enthusiast". After what I read about Julia, Domitian's niece in Juvenal's second satire, I got the impression that neither niece nor uncle emerged with any credit from the affair.

 

Don't you mean TRP Vllll ? This would date the issue to after Sept.8th AD79. Vespasian may well have authorised the Caledonian campaign. But he was dead by the time that Agricola invaded Scotland. The authorisation would be enough to allow Vespasian to issue such coins for Titus as Caesar. You need to be more precise when you refer to "a contemporary victory".

 

Any Flavian issue with a Jewish connexion fetches a premium and is much sought after. But I don't believe that the coin with a kneeling captive has any such connexion. When Judaea appears as a solitary prisoner, it is always as a woman, not as a man, cf. Britannia. The Flavian model is based on an issue by Julius Caesar subsequent to the war in Gaul (BMCRR 2.39, no.9; RRC 1.467.452 nos.4-5 issued in 48-7BC.)

 

Quite right, TRP VIIII, a hasty typo on my part.

The coins with this reverse were first struck for Titus before Vespasian's death in the first half of 79. We don't really know the chronology of Agricola's campaigns, the dates are highly disputed (was Mons Graupius fought in 83 or 84 for instance?). So it is very difficult to be precise in such circumstances. In general we can infer there was enough fighting in northern England/southern Scotland to give Titus his first imperial acclamation (IMP XV) of his reign in late summer of 79. IMP XV does not have to be awarded only for a victory on Scottish soil after all.

Also, recently Woolliscroft and Hoffmann in Rome's First Frontier push the whole invasion of Scotland forward to the early/mid part of Vespasian's reign and leave Agricola with little to do!

And keep in mind interpreting the meaning behind the reverse types is really all just guess work in a lot of cases.