Description
Titus as Caesar under Vespasian, Sestertius, 73, Rome
RIC II, Part 1 (second edition) Vespasian 611.
Obv.: T CAES VESP IMP PON TR POT COS II CENS, Head of Titus, laureate, right.
Rev.: S C, Titus standing in quadriga right, holding branch and sceptre.
24.08 g
33.5 mm
When Vespasian was acclaimed Emperor by the eastern legions on 1 July 69, he left his son Titus in command of ongoing operations to repress the Jewish Revolt (66-73 CE). Like his father, Titus was a skilled general and, by April 70, he had forced the rebels behind the walls of Jerusalem, which he besieged for four months and ultimately demolished, setting the Temple ablaze. Although mopping up operations against surviving rebel elements continued, Titus traveled to Rome in 71 to celebrate a formal triumph as Caesar alongside his father. Despite its lack of any legend other than S C (Senatus Consulto), the reverse of this sestertius belongs to the “Judaea Capta” Flavian propaganda program in its depiction of Titus riding serenely in the triumphal chariot, drinking in the adulation of the Roman people. (Classical Numismatic Group)
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