Titus caesar, 69 – 79
Sestertius 72, Æ 26.76 g. T CAES VESPASIAN IMP PON TR POT COS II Laureate head r. Rev. S – C Titus on horseback r., spearing fallen Jewish soldier clutching sword and shield. C 236. BMC Vespasian 634. RIC Vespasian 430. CBN Vespasian 622. Hendin 1524. Very rare and in exceptional condition for the issue, possibly the finest specimen in private hands of this interesting and difficult issue of the Judean series. A portrait of superb style and an incredibly detailed reverse composition. Lovely brown tone, minor areas of weakness and an insignificant area of corrosion on reverse field, otherwise extremely fine When Vespasian was acclaimed Emperor by the eastern legions on July 1, AD 69, he left his son Titus in command of ongoing operations to repress the Jewish Revolt (AD 66-73). Like his father, Titus was a skilled general and by April AD 70 had forced the rebels and many civilians to seek safety behind the walls of Jerusalem. These he placed under a close siege that dragged on for four months and brought the defenders to extremities of starvation. At last, in August, the forces under Titus stormed the city and set it ablaze along with the Temple. Although mopping up operations against surviving rebel elements continued in Judaea until AD 73, Titus traveled to Rome in AD 71 to celebrate a formal triumph alongside his father and his brother Domitian. Vespasian had destroyed his rivals in AD 69 and upon becoming sole Emperor had named Titus as Caesar. The Roman victory over the Jewish rebels subsequently became a keystone of the numismatic propaganda deployed on coins struck by both Vespasian and Titus. The reverse of this sestertius belongs to this Flavian propaganda program in its depiction of Titus on horseback riding down a fallen Jewish rebel. The mounted Roman ruler slaying his fallen enemies was a standard image used to advertise the ruler as a great warrior that continued in use on Roman imperial coins down to the fourth century. The message of Vespasians type was so clear that no associated inscription is provided except for the abbreviated senatus consultum authorizing the issue. Hendin has attempted to associate the type with an anecdote told by Josephus (BJ 5.2), in which Titus is said to have fought his way out of a Jewish ambush under divine protection and ”rode his horse over the fallen foes”. However, the image on the sestertius seems to be intended to present a more general image of Titus as warrior rather than to record a specific incident. Josephus explicitly says that when ambushed Titus had been reconnoitering the defenses of Jerusalem and therefore ”wore neither helmet nor cuirass”. The mounted Titus on the reverse of this wonderfully preserved sestertius clearly shows him wearing a cuirass. Rather than the story in Josephus, the reverse type is far more likely to represent a statue group erected in Rome to honor Titus for his triumph.