Reading Power: Decoding Roman Imperial Coin Legends
AP Latin / Latin III–IV · One 45-minute class period + homework
Standards: Common Core RH.11-12.1–2 · ACL/ACTFL · AP Latin framework
Students expand the abbreviations in an authentic imperial legend, translate the titulature, and write a museum label for their own coin.
Learning objectives
By the end of the period, students can:
- Expand the core imperial abbreviations without a crib sheet.
- Translate a full obverse legend into idiomatic English.
- Explain what the titulature claims about the emperor's authority.
- Cite the coin properly: catalog number, holding museum, URL.
Procedure
| Stage | Time | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Warm-up | 5 min | Show one coin on the board. Ask what the class can already read. Expect IMP and AVG; write the guesses down, right or wrong. |
| Mini-lesson | 10 min | How imperial titulature works: name, victory titles, priesthoods, tribunician power, consulships, pater patriae. Stress that the order is nearly fixed — that is what makes it readable. |
| Independent work | 20 min | Each student opens their own coin card and writes the legend out in full words, then translates it. |
| Share-out | 10 min | Two students present. Discuss variant readings and why the die-cutter dropped letters. |
| Homework | — | A 3–4 sentence museum label for the coin, in the register a museum would actually print. |
Abbreviation handout (core list)
- IMP
- imperator — victorious commander; in the imperial period, the emperor
- AVG
- augustus — the emperor's formal title since 27 BC
- CAES
- Caesar — dynastic name; from the 2nd century AD, the designated heir
- TR P / TR POT
- tribunicia potestate — tribunician power, renewed annually
- COS
- consul — followed by the iteration number
- P P
- pater patriae — father of the country
- P M / PONT MAX
- pontifex maximus — chief priest
- GERM / DAC / PARTH
- Germanicus, Dacicus, Parthicus — victory titles
- DIVI F
- divi filius — son of the deified
- S C
- senatus consulto — by decree of the senate (bronze coinage)
Rubric (25 points)
| Criterion | Points | What earns full credit |
|---|---|---|
| Expansion accuracy | 10 | Every abbreviation expanded correctly. |
| Translation | 5 | Idiomatic English, correct grammatical relationships. |
| Museum label | 5 | Accurate, clear, and written for a general reader. |
| Citation | 5 | Catalog number, holding museum, and URL given. |
Coins used in the examples
-
Trajan, aureus, RIC II Trajan 4
—
IMP CAES NERVA TRAIAN AVG GERM -
Nero and Agrippina, RIC I (2nd ed.) Nero 1
—
AGRIPP AVG DIVI CL AVD NERONIS CAES MATER
Images stay on canoanumis.org with museum attribution; the printable packet carries catalog numbers and links instead, so nothing needs licensing.
Differentiation and assessment
- Support: give the abbreviation handout face-up and shorten the legend to the obverse.
- Extension: ask the student to date the coin from the iteration numbers alone.
- Language learners: the museum label may be drafted in the home language first.
The graded version
In a pilot, every student gets a different coin from the filter you choose, auto-gradable parts are checked against the catalog record, and scores flow into your LMS gradebook over LTI 1.3. Setup takes about fifteen minutes, once, for an LMS administrator.