Aureus - Domitian GERMANICVS COS XV, Germania

The GERMANICVS title and the Germania reverse type on this aureus commemorate Domitian's campaigns across the Rhine frontier in 83 and 89 AD — wars the emperor promoted aggressively in official propaganda despite Tacitus and others questioning their military substance. Domitian claimed a triumph for the 83 campaign against the Chatti, a victory Pliny the Younger later mocked as theatrical. The COS XV dating places this coin squarely in the aftermath of the Saturninus revolt of 89, when Domitian's grip on the principate had hardened considerably.