Sestertius - Domitian S C, Spes

This sestertius falls within Domitian's tenure as Caesar under his father Vespasian, struck before his accession in 81 AD. Spes — Hope — as a reverse type carried specific political weight during the Flavian dynasty's early years: Vespasian had emerged from the chaos of 69 AD, the Year of the Four Emperors, and the repeated use of optimistic personifications on Flavian coinage was a deliberate program of dynastic reassurance rather than incidental iconography.

RIC II.1 #656 places this among the reorganized Flavian attributions from the revised second edition, which substantially renumbered earlier RIC II assignments for this period.