Domitian's imperial acclamations were piling up fairly rapidly in 86 due to ongoing battles fought against the Dacians. This denarius from the fifth issue of 86 struck after mid September records his 14th imperial acclamation. Many of the denarii of 86 are rendered in fine style and are quite scarce, this coin being a delightful example of such. One would assume that denarii minted during a time of heavy campaigning with multiple imperial acclamations would be plentiful, but mysteriously that does not seem to be the case! Domitian RIC 454 AR Denarius Rome mint, 86 AD RIC 454 (R), BMC p. 320 †, RSC 208 Obv: IMP CAES DOMIT AVG GERM P M TR P VI; Head of Domitian, laureate, bearded, r. Rev: IMP XIIII COS XII CENS P P P; Minerva adv. r., with spear and shield (M1)
Very nice coin indeed. I am not a big fan of Domitian the man, but I love his coinage. Here are just a few of mine:
Wow, another amazing coin David. I love the style of the portrait and that reverse has some great detail.
WOW!! Bing has some real beauties, but yours looks about what AJ would post!! Congrats "Mr David' !!!!
Well done! The first denarius you post has the quite rare imperial acclamation 17. I don't have that one with the capital of rostral column and owl. And as a side note, your first two denarii appear to have been engraved by the same hand!
Very slick new Domitian, V-70 (congrats) => here is my only example of this dude ... Hey, V-70 => note that my sweet Minerva is pointed the opposite way (man, they'd look pretty cool "together" if you ever want to send it my way)
Thanks Steve! You have a great example there. The four standard Minerva types struck by Domitian must've been copied from well known generic "in the round" representations that could have been found in most temples dedicated to her worship. Your denarius is the (M3) Minerva standing, facing left, with thunderbolt and spear and shield behind her feet - Minerva with the attributes of Jupiter.
My only denarius, or any other example, of Domitian---a 'poor man's' version of Steve's post from an old 'first try' photo.
I'll add three 'different' Domitians not in great condition but that I found appealing. COS VII DES VIII with more frontal pose The dupondius is probably barbarous and shows only DES VIIII. The fourree is not 'official' style but I consider it very well cut. The COS II date is inconsistent with the rest of the coin (XII would be better).
A nice example of the Minerva holding Victory type struck early in the reign. Too bad that pose was never standardised along with the other four Minerva types.
