Titus' Brotherly Love?

It looks to be a variant obverse legend of RIC 816 - IMP CAESAR VESP AVG COS VI. Yours is IMP CAES VESPAS COS VI. Prudently, the engraver kept the same number of letters! It is not listed in the unpublished RIC II.1 Addenda.

 

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Excellent coin David!!

I'm short of any Sestertii and I only have this wonderful Vespasian dupondius of the Flavian dynasty that shows much wear, but even it was magical for me as I held it in hand while reading The Lives of the Twelve Caesars


Vespasian (69-79), Æ28 Dupondius. Lugdunum, AD 77–78.
Obv: IMP CAES VESPASIAN AVG COS VIII PP - Laureate head right, globe under point of bust.
Rev: FIDES PVBLICA - Fides standing left, holding patera and cornucopiae, S-C across fields.
Orichalcum, 28.11mm, 12g
RIC II Part I (2nd Ed.) 1210; Sear 2347
a gift from @Aethelred

I just finished reading The Course of Honour by Lindsey Davis which featured Vespasian, the freedwoman Caenis, Titus and Domitian. Historical fiction, but a good read nonetheless - now I have a hankering to add a couple more Flavians!

 

Personally, I've never been able to get into Davis' books. Her use of anachronistic dialogue ruined the atmosphere for me and abruptly takes me back to the modern era.

Conversely, the author Caroline Lawrence has written a wonderful series of mystery novels set in the Flavian era called The Roman Mysteries. Aimed at middle school kids, her series of books tackles many adult subjects and is not dumbed down at all and can be appreciated by older readers. As a matter of fact, #8 in the series The Gladiators From Capua has one of the best descriptions I have ever read about the opening games of the Colosseum ... in all its bloody and gory detail.

As I type this, I'm about to read Lawrence's second series of Roman books titled The Roman Quests set in the final years of Domitian's reign. I just got the first instalment in the post today.

If kids books are not your cup of tea, try these fictional Flavian era gems. All of them are excellent.

Domitia and Domitian - David Corson
Nero's Heirs - Allan Massie (Year of the Four Emperors)
The Antagonists - Ernest Gann (Masada)
Pompeii - Robert Harris
The Light Bearer - Donna Gillespie (Domitian's Chattian War)

Happy reading!

 

Nice addition !

 

Thank you David! I appreciate the guidance & clarification on this one - it has been puzzling me for a while.

 

That's a lovely sestertius of Titus, @David Atherton ! It has a lot of eye-appeal and I like the toning. One doesn't come across a Titus sestertius like this every day.

Nothing says brotherly love like a dual-portrait coin of Titus and Domitian:


Titus and Domitian, Caesares, AD 69-81.
Roman provincial Æ 18.5 mm, 5.14 g, 5 h.
Lycaonia, Laodicea Combusta (Laodikeia Katakekaumene / Claudio-Laodicea).
Obv: TITOC KAI ΔOMITIANOC KAICAΡEC, bare head of Titus right, facing bare head of Domitian left.
Rev: KΛAYΔIO ΛAOΔIKЄѠN, Cybele, polos on head, seated left, holding patera and tympanum; lion beneath throne.
Refs: RPC II 1613; von Aulock Lykaoniens 151; SNG von Aulock 8416; Waddington 4779; SNG France III 2322.

But on a different note, I see you're talking about fiction set in the Roman empire:

Let me put in a plug for Ruth Downie, the author of a series of whodunnits set early in the reign of Hadrian.

 

Congrats again on a great coin and thank you for the reading recommendations. I quite agree with you on the Davis book as I did catch myself once saying, "they wouldn't have said that" and it interrupted my reading for a pause of consideration.

I've read all of Robert Harris' books and I give them high praise. I'll make it a point to pick up The Gladiators From Capua as I'm sure my daughter would enjoy it as well - Gann's Antagonists and Gillespie's The Light Bearer are now on the read list.

 

I just got this Titus Spes As delivered last week and just remembered that I had wanted to post it to this thread when it was active a couple weeks ago as I had purchased it at that, but wanted to wait until I had it in had. So now that it is in my hands, here it is...


Titus as Caesar, AE As
Struck by Vespasian in 77-78 AD, Lugdunum Mint
Obverse: T CAES IMP AVG F TR P COS VI CENSOR, Head of Titus, laureate, right; globe at point of neck.
Reverse: Spes standing, left holding flower in right and raising skirt with left (anepigraphic), S-C across field.
References: RIC II (Vespasian) 1273
Size: 28mm, 8.7g

(And it was actually mislabeled by the seller as Vespasian and not Titus.)