Sestertius - Domitian S C

Domitian's 85 AD sestertii were produced at a moment when the emperor was actively restructuring the Roman coinage system, having raised the silver fineness of the denarius the previous year — a reform that lasted only until fiscal pressures from the Danubian wars forced a retreat. The orichalcum alloy of the sestertius was itself a Augustan-era innovation, maintained for prestige rather than economy, and Domitian understood its monumental value in a large-flan format suited to elaborate portraiture and political messaging.

RIC II.1 359 belongs to the fourth emission of Domitian's reign, assigned to the Rome mint under the revised RIC second edition scholarship of Carradice and Buttrey.