What Do the Letters on Roman Coins Mean? A Latin Glossary

Last updated: 12 May 2026 · Author: Aurora Antiqua Editorial · Reading time: 11 min

Quick answer: Roman coin legends are abbreviated Latin inscriptions naming the emperor and his titles on the obverse (front), and a deity, virtue, or commemorative theme on the reverse (back). Common abbreviations include IMP (Imperator, Emperor), AVG (Augustus), CAES (Caesar), COS (Consul), PM (Pontifex Maximus, Chief Priest), TRP (Tribunicia Potestate, with Tribunician Power), PF (Pius Felix, Dutiful and Fortunate), SPQR (Senatus Populusque Romanus, the Senate and People of Rome), and PP (Pater Patriae, Father of the Fatherland). Reverse legends typically name a deity (MARS, VICTORIA, PAX) or virtue (LIBERTAS, CONCORDIA).

How to read a Roman coin legend

A Roman coin legend reads clockwise, starting at the bottom or left, and is built from rigid formulas. The obverse names the issuing emperor and his accumulated titles; the reverse names the theme of the issue.

A typical Antonine-period denarius reads:

Obverse: ANTONINVS AVG PIVS P P TR P COS III Reverse: LIBERALITAS AVG

Decoded: - Antoninus Augustus Pius, Father of the Fatherland, with Tribunician Power, Consul for the third time - (Reverse) Liberality of the Emperor

Every component is on the list below.

Note: Classical Latin used V for both U and V (the letter U did not exist as a separate form until the late medieval period). Modern transliterations preserve this: AVGVSTVS, not "Augustus" on the coin itself.

Imperial titulature (obverse)

These are the titles every emperor accumulated through his reign. Their presence and order date a coin to within a few years.

Tribunician and consular powers, the dating keys

The Tribunicia Potestas (Tribunician Power) was renewed annually each December. The numeral after TR P tells you the year of the reign.

These numerals are the single most useful dating tool for a Roman coin. For Trajan, for example, COS V dates the issue to AD 103-111; COS VI to AD 112 onward.

Conquest titles (cognomina ex virtute)

Awarded after major military victories, these titles signal triumph over a specific people:

A coin with DAC after the emperor's name immediately places it after the relevant campaign.

Senate and People

SC is the marker of bronze coinage. Bronze sestertii, dupondii, and asses carried SC on the reverse to indicate that the Senate authorised the issue, whereas gold and silver coinage was struck under direct imperial authority and omitted the formula.

SPQR appears occasionally on coins and is the most famous Roman political abbreviation, still inscribed today on Roman manhole covers and city emblems.

Reverse legends, deities and personifications

The reverse of a Roman coin almost always carries a single concept rendered as a personified figure: a god, goddess, or abstract virtue depicted as a person. The legend names the concept.

Gods of the Roman pantheon

Personified virtues, the most common reverse type

These appear on more reverses than the gods themselves and are the building blocks of imperial propaganda.

Honorific epithets attached to the emperor

Mint marks and control marks

The exergue, the strip below the reverse design, usually carries the mint mark, identifying where the coin was struck.

Letters and symbols flanking the mint mark identify the officina (workshop) within the mint, P, S, T, Q for prima, secunda, tertia, quarta (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th).

The mark XXI, found on reformed antoniniani of Diocletian's coinage, indicates the official silver-to-bronze alloy ratio (20:1).

Worked example: a Trajan denarius

Obverse: IMP TRAIANO AVG GER DAC PM TRP COS V PP

Decoded element by element: - IMP, Imperator (Emperor) - TRAIANO, Trajan (dative form: "to Trajan") - AVG, Augustus - GER, Germanicus (Conqueror of the Germans, after the 89 AD Domitianic campaign in which he served) - DAC, Dacicus (Conqueror of the Dacians, awarded after the First Dacian War, AD 102) - PM, Pontifex Maximus (Chief Priest) - TRP, Tribunicia Potestate (with Tribunician Power) - COS V, Consul for the fifth time (held from AD 103-111) - PP, Pater Patriae (Father of the Fatherland)

The combination DAC and COS V, but no later titles, dates this coin to AD 103-111.

Reverse: SPQR OPTIMO PRINCIPI

• SPQR, the Senate and People of Rome
• OPTIMO PRINCIPI, "to the Best Princeps"

Translation: Emperor Trajan, Augustus, Conqueror of Germans and Dacians, Chief Priest, with Tribunician Power, Consul for the fifth time, Father of the Fatherland, to the best Princeps, [from] the Senate and People of Rome.

Frequently asked questions

Why are the letters so jumbled together? Roman die-cutters worked on small surfaces and aimed to fit the maximum titulature into the legend. Word breaks were marked by raised dots or by deliberate spacing. Many legends ran continuously without any breaks.

Why do some coins use U and some V? None do. Classical Latin used V for both consonantal /w/ (later /v/) and vocalic /u/. The letter U as a distinct form developed in medieval handwriting and was adopted by printers only in the 16th-17th centuries. Roman coins consistently use V.

What does the small letter after the mint mark mean? The officina, a sub-workshop within a mint. P for prima (first), S for secunda (second), T for tertia (third), and so on. Greek letters (A, B, Γ, Δ) serve the same function at Eastern mints.

Why are some legends in Greek? Provincial coinage from the Greek-speaking eastern provinces (Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt) used Greek inscriptions while still depicting the Roman emperor. These are catalogued separately as Roman Provincial Coinage.

What about coins with no emperor's name at all? Republican-period coinage (before 27 BC) names a moneyer (mint magistrate) rather than an emperor. Anonymous bronze types from the Republican and early imperial eras are also common.

Further reading

• Roman Imperial Coinage (RIC), standard catalogue, 13 volumes
• Online Coins of the Roman Empire (OCRE), American Numismatic Society's open database
• Roman currency (Wikipedia), denominations and metallurgy
• Mattingly, H. & Sydenham, E., Roman Imperial Coinage, foundational reference; partially available via Internet Archive
• Sear, D. R., Roman Coins and Their Values (5 vols., 2000-2014), accessible collector reference
• Forum Ancient Coins glossary, community-curated wiki with thousands of legend variants

About this guide. This glossary covers the most frequent Latin abbreviations on Roman coins from approximately Augustus (27 BC) through Theodosius (AD 395). Provincial Greek coinage, Republican moneyer types, and Late Roman / early Byzantine coinage employ partly different conventions; for those, consult RIC and OCRE. Aurora Antiqua includes a Latin transliteration and translation in every coin listing on our store.