Titus held the title of emperor for only two years before his death in September 81 AD, making his reign-dated issues among the more narrowly bracketed in the silver series. The tribunician and imperatorial numbering on this piece — TR P VIIII, IMP XV — places it firmly in 79 AD, the year Titus became sole Augustus following Vespasian's death in June, and the same year Vesuvius buried Pompeii and Herculaneum in August. He was in power for roughly three months before the eruption, and ancient sources credit him with an unusually direct relief effort, personally funding reconstruction from the imperial treasury.
Titus held the title of emperor for only two years before his death in September 81 AD, making his reign-dated issues among the more narrowly bracketed in the silver series. The tribunician and imperatorial numbering on this piece — TR P VIIII, IMP XV — places it firmly in 79 AD, the year Titus became sole Augustus following Vespasian's death in June, and the same year Vesuvius buried Pompeii and Herculaneum in August. He was in power for roughly three months before the eruption, and ancient sources credit him with an unusually direct relief effort, personally funding reconstruction from the imperial treasury.