TITUS

Titus. 79-81 AD. Rome mint, 18mm 3.2g, Struck January-July 80 AD.
O: IMP TITVS CAES VESPASIAN AVG P M, laureate head right
R: TR P IX IMP XV COS VIII P P, dolphin coiled around anchor. - RIC II 26a; BMCRE 72; RSC 309

The short reign of Titus witnessed three major calamities. First, on 24 August 79 AD, only one month after his accession, was the eruption of Mount Vesuvius which overwhelmed Pompeii, Herculaneum, Stabiae, and Oplontis. The following year, while still in Campania supervising the relief work , a devastating fire and epidemic of plague broke out in Rome.

The above coin was minted in 80 AD, and, according to Mattingly, in BMC II, pp. lxxii-lxxiii, was part of a series commemorating the supplicatio and lectisternium voted by the Senate after the eruption. As part of the atonement ceremony to seek peace with heaven, sacred couches, pulvinaria, were arranged, each bearing attributes or emblems of the gods. In this particular case the dolphin and anchor represent Neptune.

In contrast, B. Damsky, in "The throne and curule chair types of Titus and Domitian," in SNR 74 (1995), pp. 59-70, after reviewing all the interpretations suggested by various scholars, theorized that this coin, and others minted at the same time, refers not to the ceremony following the eruption, but rather to the occasion for rejoicing and spectacles held in June 80 to inaugurate the completion and opening of the Amphitheatrum Flavium or Colosseum.

Others claim this reverse is a connection to Augustus. The Roman historian Suetonius, in De vita Caesarum, tells that Augustus deplored rashness in a military commander and so σπεῦδε βραδέως (speûde bradéōs) was one of his favorite sayings. This classical adage and oxymoron meaning "make haste slowly" or "more haste, less speed" benefitted the two most praised Roman emperors, Augustus and Titus.

Both of these men possessed a unique greatness of soul, and with an incredible gentleness joined with courtesy and the amiable popularity of their manners, they bound the hearts of all to them. But, nonetheless, when affairs demanded force, they accomplished the greatest actions with diligence equal to their gentleness.