Domitian, as Caesar, 69-81. Aureus (Gold, 19 mm, 7.24 g, 6 h), Rome, 77-78. CAESAR AVG F DOMITIANVS Laureate head of Domitian to right. Rev. COS V Captive kneeling to right, extending his left hand and offering vexillum with his right in an act of submission. BMC 231. Calicó 819. Cohen 48. RIC 959. An attractive example of this historically interesting issue. Some scrapes and with traces of mounting, otherwise, very fine.
In 75, the Parthian king Vologases I appealed to Emperor Vespasian for assistance against an invasion by the Alans (Cass. Dio 65.15.3). Vespasian, however, declined. A full-scale conflict between the two great powers was narrowly avoided thanks to the diplomatic skill of Marcus Ulpius Trajanus, governor of Syria and father of the future emperor Trajan. The reverse of this aureus likely alludes to these events by replicating an Augustan type that commemorated the recovery of Crassus’ legionary standards from the Parthians nearly a century earlier