Severina Silver Denarius RIC V Severina 6

Monetary Context and the Aurelianic Reform

By the accession of Aurelian in AD 270, the Roman monetary system had suffered decades of acute instability, hyper-debasement, and workshop disorganization. The silver denarius, which had served as the foundational accounting and transactional coin of the Principate, was effectively abandoned as a mass-circulation denomination by the middle of the third century AD, displaced by the double denarius or radiate antoninianus. During the monetary reform enacted around AD 274, Aurelian sought to restore public trust in the state currency by restructuring denominations, establishing rigorous quality controls, and clearly distinguishing denominations by radiate and diademed portraits. Within this reformed system, the denarius was selectively re-established as a fractional piece. The emission of RIC V Severina 6 in the name of Empress Severina reflects this deliberate restoration of the laureate or diademed fractional unit. Struck at the mint of Rome, these coins provided convenient everyday value steps beneath the larger radiate pieces. Because the prevailing tariffing structures were tied to fixed ratios of intrinsic metal and nominal face value, the reform denarius represented an official guarantee of purchasing power despite its low silver content. Severina's presence on this restored denomination emphasized domestic concord and imperial legitimacy, presenting the imperial family as custodians of monetary order.

Production Technology and Mint Attribution

The issue catalogued as RIC V Severina 6 is securely attributed to the imperial mint at Rome. Production took place within a modernized, tightly monitored workshop structure reorganized following the suppression of the Roman mint workers' revolt earlier in Aurelian's reign. The coins were manufactured from cast flans struck with hand-cut iron dies. While classified historically as silver, metallurgical analyses of Aurelianic denarii indicate a debased alloy containing roughly two to five percent silver mixed with copper, lead, and trace impurities. To achieve the appearance of fine silver when first released into commerce, freshly prepared flans underwent chemical blanching, removing base metal oxides from the exterior surface to leave an enriched, microscopically thin silver veneer. Striking was distributed across dedicated officinae, designated workshops within the Rome mint. Dies were engraved with high relief and balanced proportions characteristic of the central Italian style, showcasing the disciplined craftsmanship restored under Aurelian. Die axes predominantly follow standard Roman imperial alignment patterns, alternating between twelve and six o'clock, reflecting systematic striking practices within the capital workshops.

Obverse Iconography and Imperial Representation

The obverse of RIC V Severina 6 presents a refined imperial portrait of Empress Ulpia Severina facing right. The bust is carefully draped in the imperial stola and mantle, conveying modesty, dignity, and elevated matronly status. Severina's head is adorned with a crescent-like diadem or stephane, a standard numismatic marker of empresses during the third century AD that distinguished female portraits from the radiate crowns reserved for male emperors and specific double denominations. Her coiffure displays meticulous styling, with tightly waved tresses drawn back from the temples and gathered into a plait running vertically up the nape of the neck toward the crown of the head, a fashion echoing the traditional Antonine and Severan dynastic aesthetics revived under Aurelian. The facial features are delineated with restrained, classical severity, featuring an aquiline nose, prominent chin, and calm expression. This compositional balance avoided the exaggerated stylization common in provincial and irregular emissions of the period, asserting the imperial court's cultural authority through traditional visual forms.

Reverse Typology: Venus Felix

The reverse design of RIC V Severina 6 is dedicated to Venus Felix, the celestial bringer of happiness, good fortune, and fertility. The goddess is depicted standing draped and facing left in a classical contrapposto pose. In her extended right hand she supports a small seated figure, which numismatists and iconographers traditionally identify as her son Cupid, or occasionally as a personification of auspicious abundance. In her left hand, held vertically against her side, she grasps a long sceptre, denoting divine authority and celestial majesty. The flowing drapery cascades around her limbs, rendered with crisp linear folds by the Rome die engravers. Venus Felix was an established and recurrent motif on coinage for Roman imperial women, linking the Empress directly with divine benevolence, matrimonial harmony, and the continuation of the imperial house. Under Severina, the invocation of Venus Felix functioned not merely as a generic religious attribute, but as a public proclamation of peace and domestic stability re-established after protracted civil upheaval. The exergue beneath the ground line typically contains workshop marks indicating the specific officina responsible for the coin's production.

Epigraphy and Legend Variations

The inscriptions on RIC V Severina 6 are concise, formal, and executed in clean, classical Latin lettering. The obverse legend reads SEVERINA AVG, representing the contracted form of Severina Augusta. The omission of extended imperial titles or paternal ancestry was typical for Augusta issues of this era, distilling the sovereign identity into the essential title granted to Roman empresses. The lettering curves smoothly along the inner beaded border, uninterrupted above the diademed head. On the reverse, the legend VENVS FELIX is placed symmetrically around the standing figure of the goddess, providing an unambiguous identification of the deity and her beneficial role. In the exergue at the base of the reverse die, individual officina letters or symbols appear, identifying the production branch at Rome. Common workshop markers for this series include letters from the Greek or Latin alphabet, such as modern documented variants displaying marks like gamma, delta, or eta, or Roman numerals denoting the specific workshop. These institutional notations served internal accounting controls within the reformed mint, facilitating administrative accountability for weight and metallic purity.

Typological Placement and Chronological Sequence

In the typological framework of Roman Imperial Coinage Volume V, compiled by Percy H. Webb, this denarius type is catalogued as Severina number 6. Modern chronological syntheses, notably advanced by Sylviane Estiot, place the emission of this coin firmly within the reform phase of Aurelian's reign, dating between AD 274 and the autumn of AD 275. It belongs to the broader series of reform fractions struck at Rome alongside denarii depicting Aurelian himself with laureate bust and the reverse legend VICTORIA AVG. While older nineteenth-century references occasionally assigned Severina's entire coinage to the period after Aurelian's death, modern hoard analysis and die links confirm that RIC V Severina 6 was struck while Aurelian was actively governing. The denarius of Severina was produced concurrently with antoniniani bearing the concordia militum and providentia deorum types. Because fractional denarii were minted in considerably smaller volumes than the primary radiate units, RIC V Severina 6 represents a comparatively contained typological group within the extensive reform issues of the capital.

Metrological Standards and Monetary Circulation

Denarii of the RIC V Severina 6 type were struck to a carefully calculated weight standard instituted as part of Aurelian's reform. While surviving specimens exhibit minor variations due to uneven flan preparation and subsequent chemical wear, the nominal weight target was calibrated around 2.5 to 2.8 grams, with typical diameters ranging between 17 and 19 millimetres. The metal composition, although formally counted as silver, was technically a very debased billon alloy with an applied silvered surface wash. In daily commercial life, this silver wash was vulnerable to mechanical abrasion; circulated pieces frequently lost their bright veneer, revealing the darker copper-rich core underneath. Hoard evidence from Italy, Gaul, and the Danube provinces indicates that these reform denarii circulated alongside earlier billon issues and the newly introduced antoniniani marked XXI. However, because their intrinsic bullion value was low and their official volume restricted compared to radiates, their operational life was concentrated primarily in regional civilian trade and local accounting transactions rather than massive military disbursements. Over time, subsequent third-century debasements under Diocletian led to the eventual withdrawal or retariffing of these fractional billon units.

References

1. Le buste monetaire des empereurs romains. vol. 2, pp. 605-618
2. Monnaies de l'Empire romain, XII.1: D'Aurelien a Florien (270-276 apres J.-C.). Rome, Severina
3. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC V Severina 6. RIC V Severina 6
4. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Volume V, Part I. pp. 313-318