RIC 0108 Titus denarius

IMP TITVS CAES VESPASIAN AVG P M
Laureate head right

TR P IX IMP XV COS VIII P P
Wreath on curule chair.

3.27g

Rome 79 AD

RIC 108 (C2), RSC 318


In the Roman Republic, and later the Empire, the curule seat (sella curulis, supposedly from currus, "chariot") was the chair upon which senior magistrates or promagistrates owning imperium were entitled to sit, including dictators, masters of the horse, consuls, praetors, censors, and the curule aediles. According to Livy the curule seat, like the Roman toga, originated in Etruria and it has been used on surviving Etruscan monuments to identify magistrates. The curule chair is used on Roman medals as well as funerary monuments to express a curule magistracy; when traversed by a hasta (spear), it is the symbol of Juno.

The curule chair was traditionally made of or veneered with ivory, with curved legs forming a wide X; it had no back, and low arms. Although often of luxurious construction, the Roman curule was meant to be uncomfortable to sit on for long periods of time, the double symbolism being that the official was expected to carry out his public function in an efficient and timely manner, and that his office, being an office of the republic, was temporary, not perennial.