Denarius - Domitian COS XIIII, Minerva

Domitian held the consulship for the fourteenth time in 88 AD, a year that also saw the ludi saeculares — the Secular Games — celebrated for the first time since Claudius, marking the supposed completion of a 110-year cycle. Domitian used the occasion aggressively for dynastic self-promotion, and the consular dating on this issue places it squarely within that politically charged moment. His unusually frequent assumption of the consulship was itself a point of senatorial resentment, contributing to the hostility that colored his memory after his assassination in 96 AD.