Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;David Atherton, post: 3338314, member: 82616&quot;]In nearly 16 years of collecting Flavian coins I&#039;ve only been able to obtain three of Domitian&#039;s group 2 denarii from 81. I&#039;m not holding my breath for the next one. Group 3 isn&#039;t much more common either.</p><p><br /></p><p>Sorting out the chronology of Domitian&#039;s pulvinar series is a vexing problem. I believe it partly hinges on when he was given the Pontifex Maximus title. RIC 1 isn&#039;t necessarily the first coin struck for Domitian as Augustus. The abbreviation &#039;PONT&#039; for Ponitfex Maximus must have come early in the rapid sequence of titles Domitian employed on his denarii in 81 and likely was short lived if its rarity is any indication. The more usual &#039;PM&#039; soon followed and was used for the remainder of the reign. The records of the Arval brothers do not show Domitian as Pontifex Maximus by 30 October 81, so presumably he acquired the title in either November or December.</p><p><br /></p><p>However, there is a problem. The group 2 and 3 denarii lack the title TR P but record Domitian as P M - he is recorded as TR P on many of the &#039;PONT&#039; denarii. I&#039;m at a loss to explain it. The reverse dies lacking TR P continued to be used until the end of 81 alongside others that display it! RIC notes the chronology is not precise with these issues from 81 and they are grouped only for &#039;convenience&#039;. Judging by the rarity of the Group 2 and 3 denarii they could not have been struck for any length of time.</p><p><br /></p><p>Possible sequence of titles in 81:</p><p><br /></p><p>Obv:</p><p>IMP CAESAR DOMITIANVS AVG</p><p>IMP CAES DOMITIANVS AVG PONT</p><p>IMP CAES DOMITIAN AVG PONT &amp; IMP CAES DIVI VESP F DOMIT AVG PONT</p><p>IMP CAES DOMITIANVS AVG P M &amp; IMP CAES DIVI VESP F DOMIT(IAN) AVG P M</p><p><br /></p><p>Rev:</p><p>Group 1 - TR P COS VII</p><p>Group 2 -PP COS VII DES VIII</p><p>Group 3 - COS VII DES VIII P P</p><p>Group 4 - TR P COS VII DES VIII P P</p><p><br /></p><p>At any rate, here is my RIC 32, an obverse die match with the OP coin.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]884207[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Congrats on your new addition Andrew![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in