Commemorating an Important Victory in Britain

225, Lot: 337. Estimate $150. Sold for $390. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Titus. AD 79-81. AR Denarius (17mm, 3.46 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck AD 80. Laureate head right / At base of trophy, Britannia seated left in attitude of mourning and bound British captive seated right. RIC II 102; RSC 306. VF, toned.

This denarius commemorates Agricola’s victory in Britain at the river Tay, for which Titus was proclaimed imperator for the fifteenth time. Beginning in AD 77, Gnaeus Iulius Agricola, legate of Britannia (and , began expanding Roman control over the rest of the island. He pushed northward into Scotland and defeated the Caledonians at Mons Graupius in AD 83. His successes, however, incurred the jealousy of Domitian, who subsequently recalled and exiled him.