Sestertius - Titus S C, Spes

Titus reigned just 26 months before dying of fever in September 81 AD — long enough to preside over the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD and a devastating fire in Rome, both of which demanded extraordinary relief efforts. The Spes type, invoking Hope, likely circulated in the context of imperial largesse distributed in the aftermath of those disasters, a reading supported by the concentration of similar personification reverses across his brief output.