Caracalla Bronze Sestertius RIC IV Caracalla 573A

Monetary Context

During the joint and sole reigns of the Severan dynasty, the Roman monetary system rested upon an integrated hierarchy of gold, silver, and copper-alloy denominations. The sestertius, traditionally struck in orichalcum or bronze, had long stood as the benchmark unit of account and the largest commonly circulating base-metal denomination. By the sole reign of Caracalla (AD 211 to AD 217), economic pressures stemming from military expenditures, civil conflict, and imperial donations placed severe strains on state finances. Caracalla famously increased legionary pay and introduced the antoninianus or double denarius around AD 215, altering the balance within the silver supply. Base-metal denominations retained an indispensable role in daily market transactions across Rome, Italy, and the European provinces. While silver coins formed the backbone of military payments and interregional commerce, the sestertius functioned as the primary workhorse for substantial retail purchases, municipal obligations, and local tax collections. The continued minting of large bronze coins like RIC IV Caracalla 573A assured the populace of currency continuity and the persistence of traditional senatorial bronze striking, despite ongoing debasement within the silver denominations. The expansive flan of the sestertius made it uniquely suited for conveying elaborate theological and political narratives to a wide urban audience.

Production and Mints

The issue RIC IV Caracalla 573A was struck exclusively at the principal imperial mint in the city of Rome. The Rome mint was an elaborate, highly organized state facility staffed by specialized artisans, including engravers (scalptores), flan casters, and hammer men. Production of large base-metal coins required massive round flans cast from copper alloy, typically composed of varying proportions of copper, zinc, tin, and lead. By the early third century, sestertius flans frequently showed a transition away from bright, high-zinc brass toward complex ternary or quaternary bronze alloys. To manufacture these coins, preheated or cold metal blanks were positioned between hand-carved steel dies. The lower die, set into an anvil, typically carried the imperial portrait, while the upper punch die bore the reverse design. Dies for sestertii were deeply carved to achieve high sculptural relief, which required powerful blows from heavy hammers to fill the recesses. Although sestertius target weights had gradually fallen from the classic Augustan benchmark of roughly twenty-seven grams to an average around twenty to twenty-four grams under Caracalla, considerable individual variation persisted due to bulk weighing (al marco) during blank preparation.

Obverse Imagery and Iconography

The obverse of RIC IV Caracalla 573A displays a mature, powerful portrait of Caracalla facing right. The emperor is depicted as laureate, draped, and cuirassed, combining three primary symbols of imperial status: the laurel wreath of victorious generalship, the paludamentum or military cloak of a supreme commander, and the cuirass signifying preparedness for warfare. In stylistic terms, portraits from the late period of Caracalla's reign diverge sharply from the idealized, youthful depictions of his joint rule with Septimius Severus. The Rome mint engravers captured an intense, formidable visage characterized by a furrowed brow, sharp gaze, prominent jaw, and closely cropped military beard. This severe visual language projected unyielding vigilance, physical strength, and total solidarity with the legions. The detailed rendering of the drapery folds over the chest and the embossed plates of the armor beneath emphasize the high artistic competency of the capital's celators, even during periods of heavy monetary output.

Reverse Iconography and Design

The reverse iconography of RIC IV Caracalla 573A presents Securitas, the personification of personal safety, freedom from anxiety, and public security. She is shown heavily draped, seated right upon a low seat. Her posture is deliberately restful and contemplative: she props her head against her right hand, with her right elbow resting either on the back of the seat or against her torso, while cradling a long sceptre in her left hand. Directly in front of her stands a low, lighted sacrificial altar. Securitas iconography carried profound ideological resonance. The attitude of propping the head with one arm was a well-established artistic convention in classical antiquity for tranquility, sleep, or ease, expressing the concept that the state and its citizens were safe from danger. The sceptre underlined divinely sanctioned sovereignty, while the burning altar indicated that this enduring calm was sustained through regular religious sacrifice and piety (pietas). Placed on a heavy sestertius, the image assured the Roman public that despite continuous campaigning along the Rhine, Danube, and Euphrates frontiers, the core of the empire enjoyed unshakable domestic peace under the emperor's watch.

Epigraphy and Legends

The inscriptions on RIC IV Caracalla 573A follow standard imperial epigraphic formulas of the late Severan era, executed in neat, serifed Latin capitals along the inner denticulated borders. The obverse legend reads M AVREL ANTONINVS PIVS AVG GERM. Transcribed and expanded, it stands for Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Pius Augustus Germanicus. 'Marcus Aurelius Antoninus' preserves Caracalla's formal dynastic name, chosen to link the Severan house directly to the beloved Antonine dynasty. 'Pius' highlights his dutiful respect toward the gods and his deified father, 'Augustus' affirms his supreme imperial authority, and 'Germanicus' honors his military operations against Germanic confederations along the northern borders in AD 213. The appearance of the title Germanicus is crucial for the chronology, as Caracalla adopted it late in AD 213 and retained it through the end of his life. The reverse inscription reads SECVRITATI PERPETVAE, rendered in the dative case to signify a dedicated offering: 'To Perpetual Security'. Flanking the seated personification in the fields is the standard senatorial authorization S C (Senatus Consulto, 'by decree of the Senate'). While base-metal coinage had long fallen under de facto imperial administration, the retention of S C preserved constitutional formality and commemorated the nominal partnership between the Senate and the Princeps.

Typology and Chronological Classification

RIC IV Caracalla 573A occupies a specific position within the cataloguing structure established by Harold Mattingly and Edward A. Sydenham in The Roman Imperial Coinage. The presence of the cognomen ex virtute 'Germanicus' within the obverse legend sets an absolute terminus post quem of late AD 213. The reverse design without an explicit tribunician power count (tribunicia potestas) places the striking within the broader window of AD 214 to AD 217, concurrent with Caracalla's extended travels and campaigns in the Danubian provinces and the East. Within the broader numismatic typology of Caracalla's bronze coinage, the Securitas seated right motif belongs to a thematic series praising imperial virtues and peaceful stability, which acted as ideological counterweights to reverse types depicting Victoria, Mars, and military trophies. Related sestertius types depict Securitas seated left or standing, but type 573A is distinctly catalogued by her seated posture facing right toward an altar with the complete laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust variety on the obverse. Other parallel catalogued entries, such as RIC 573B, incorporate alternate bust treatments, such as laureate right only, underscoring the exact scope assigned to 573A.

Circulation and Archaeological Context

Sestertii produced at Rome during the late Antonine and Severan periods circulated extensively across the western and central provinces of the Roman Empire, including Italia, the Gauls, the Germanies, and Britannia. Hoard evidence and excavation finds from urban centers and military forts demonstrate that bronze coins remained in active commercial circulation for decades, often staying in use until their surfaces were worn smooth. Large bronze pieces from the early third century regularly circulated alongside worn sestertii of the second century, reflecting the prolonged longevity of base-metal coin stock in the provincial economy. Because base-metal coinage faced minimal government recall compared to silver issues subjected to reminting after alloy adjustments, sestertii like RIC IV Caracalla 573A were rarely melted down systematically during Caracalla's reign. By the middle of the third century, however, accelerating inflation, the massive expansion of radiate antoniniani, and the eventual collapse of regular sestertius minting under the later military emperors marginalized large bronze coins. Many late Severan sestertii entered hoards or settlement destruction layers during the tumultuous decades of the mid-third century, leaving an archaeological record that documents their transition from civic spending money to residual metallic currency.

References

1. Coinage in the Roman Economy, 300 B.C. to A.D. 700. pp. 125-135
2. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Volume IV, Part I: Pertinax to Geta. pp. 306-307
3. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC IV Caracalla 573A. ric.4.crl.573A
4. The Coinage of Roman Britain. pp. 58-67