The Emperor in Action: Group Scenes in Trajanic Coins and Monumental Reliefs

Abstract

Under Trajan, over ten new group scene types were created for imperial coin-age. Significantly understudied, these new coin types were innovative in both composition and content, and represented a dramatic departure from traditional coin reverse types, which typically featured at most two figures. The new designs depicted the emperor interacting directly with his subjects, civilian and military. In both composition and theme, the Trajanic coin reverses are similar to the group scenes on contemporaneous monumental reliefs. The group scenes on both sculpture and coins point to a key emphasis in the Trajanic period on the relationship and interaction between the emperor and his subjects, and broaden our understanding of both the artistic innovations and official representation of the Trajanic regime.