Italy has plans to mark the 2,200th anniversary of the death of Roman playwright Tito Maccio Plauto with a circulating commemorative €2 coin in 2016. 

His name is widely known from Latin as Titus Maccius Plautus. He lived circa 254 to 184 B.C. and was a Roman playwright of the Old Latin period. His comedies are the earliest Latin literary works to have survived in their entirety.

The obverse of the coin depicts theater masks representing two characters of his style of New Comedy, the young woman and the slave, from a second-century A.D. mosaic, with a construction plan of a Roman theater, the dates 184 B.C. and 2016, and his name, PLAUTO in Italian.

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In addition, the design includes RI, logo of the Italian Republic, and L.D.S., the initials of designer Luciana De Simoni.

A total of 1.5 million coins are due for release in March.

The reverse carries the common European map design.

The 12 stars of the European flag appear on both sides of the ringed-bimetallic €2 coin.

The €2 coin weighs 8.5 grams and measures 25.75 millimeters in diameter.

Each nation is allowed to issue up to two different circulating commemorative designs annually with designs of their choosing, though few nations issue the maximum number of designs.

Joint euro programs like the 2015 coins honoring the 30th anniversary of flag of the European Union do not count toward this limit.