Sestertius IMP T CAES DIVI VESP F AVG P M TR P P P COS VIII

Titus reigned just over two years — long enough to preside over the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD, the destruction of the Colosseum fire in Rome, and a devastating plague, all within months of each other. Ancient sources record that he responded to these disasters with unusual personal generosity, deploying his own funds for relief efforts. His short reign and the density of catastrophic events within it make his coinage a compressed documentary record of a city under extraordinary pressure.