Roman Empire

Titus, Emperor AD 79-81

RIC 106; BN 52; BMC 64; Calicó 785, Superb Mint State

Rome, AD 80. IMP TITVS CAES VESPASIAN AVG P M, laureate head of Titus right. Reverse: TR P IX IMP XV COS VIII P P wreath set atop two curule chairs.

After his father was proclaimed Emperor in AD 69, Titus was given charge of completing the Jewish War. In the following year he besieged Jerusalem for over four months, before crushing all resistance and destroying the Temple. He returned to Rome later in AD 70 laden with treasures looted from Jerusalem in order to celebrate a great triumph with Vespasian. Titus was named Caesar and succeeded his father in AD 79. His brief reign was marred by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius that destroyed Pompeii and Herculaneum as well as a fire in Rome, but he eased the minds of the populace by presenting the very first spectacles in the newly dedicated Colosseum.