Caracalla Silver Denarius, RIC IV Caracalla 196

Monetary Context

The year 212 AD marked a turbulent and transformative phase within the Roman monetary system. The Severan dynasty had inherited a bimetallic and trimetallic currency structure grounded in the Augustan and Flavian traditions, but imperial expenditure had escalated substantially under Septimius Severus, primarily driven by military pay raises, donatives, and administrative expansion. Severus had lowered the intrinsic silver content of the denarius in the late 190s AD, stabilizing its fineness near fifty to fifty-five percent with a theoretical weight standard around 3.2 grams. Following the death of Septimius Severus in 211 AD and Caracalla's subsequent murder of his brother Geta in late December 211 AD, Caracalla was compelled to secure the immediate loyalty of the praetorian guard, the legionary garrisons, and the civil bureaucracy. This required vast distributions of cash and an additional increase in military pay. Struck during Caracalla's first year of sole rule, RIC IV Caracalla 196 belongs to the massive output of silver coinages issued to meet these immediate state obligations prior to the major currency overhaul of 215 AD, which saw the introduction of the radiate double denarius (antoninianus) and a further reduction in precious metal standards.

Production and Mint Organization

RIC IV Caracalla 196 was produced entirely at the principal imperial mint in Rome. By the early third century AD, the Rome mint had centralized the vast majority of precious metal production for the empire, having absorbed or discontinued the provincial branch mints, such as Antioch and Laodicea ad Mare, that had operated intermittently during the civil wars and eastern campaigns of Septimius Severus. The mint at Rome operated with a sophisticated divisional structure composed of multiple workshops (officinae), which were tasked with engraving obverse portrait dies, cutting reverse dies bearing distinct imperial messages, and producing flans of consistent weight. Denarii of this period were struck on cast blanks using two hardened bronze or iron dies subjected to hammer strikes. While the physical flans often display irregular circumferences and slight off-centering typical of rapid Roman hand striking, the high artistic quality of the die engraving in 212 AD reflects the skill of Rome's master celators. Flans of RIC IV Caracalla 196 exhibit typical Severan fabric: moderate flan thickness, compact diameters generally measuring between 18 and 20 millimeters, and typical weights hovering in the 3.0 to 3.4 gram interval, though production tolerances allowed individual specimens to fall outside this median range.

Obverse Imagery and Iconography

The obverse of RIC IV Caracalla 196 presents a mature, commanding portrait of Caracalla facing right, wearing a laurel wreath tied behind the head with ribbons falling toward the neck. In 212 AD, the emperor was approximately twenty-four years old, and the iconographic style of the Rome mint captures a distinct departure from the softer, youthful representations of his joint reign with his father. Here, Caracalla is portrayed with strong, masculine facial features, a compact jawline, and curly, closely cropped hair and beard rendered through dense, textural punch work. The laurel wreath symbolizes victorious military command, a core foundation of Severan authority. The style conveys a determined, stern imperial demeanor that would become increasingly aggressive in later issues of his reign. The bust truncation terminates cleanly at the neck or just above the collarbone without drapery or cuirass, focusing viewer attention entirely on the sovereign's facial intensity and divine legitimacy.

Reverse Iconography and Symbolism

The reverse of RIC IV Caracalla 196 features Salus, the Roman goddess of safety, physical health, and communal well-being. She is shown draped in a traditional stola and seated on an ornate, high-backed throne or stool, facing toward the left. In her right hand, she extends a patera, a shallow libation bowl, from which she feeds a serpent that rises and coils around a small lighted altar situated before her. In her left arm, cradled against her torso, she holds a cornucopiae brimming with fruits, symbolizing the abundance and prosperity that flow from divine preservation. The motif of feeding a sacred serpent reflects deep-rooted Graeco-Roman ritual practice associated with Asclepius and Hygieia, representing the constant maintenance and propitiation of healing forces. In the charged political atmosphere of 212 AD, following the bloody purge of Geta and hundreds of his alleged partisans, the deployment of Salus served a twofold propaganda purpose: it publicly celebrated the physical preservation of Caracalla from alleged fratricidal plots while assuring the Roman citizenry that the welfare and stability of the commonwealth remained sound under his sole leadership.

Inscriptions and Epigraphy

The inscriptions on RIC IV Caracalla 196 are executed in neat, classic Roman capital lettering running clockwise along the inner perimeter of the beaded borders. The obverse legend reads ANTONINVS PIVS AVG BRIT. The name Antoninus anchors Caracalla within the prestigious Antonine lineage fabricated by Septimius Severus; Pius proclaims his dutiful devotion to family and state; Aug abbreviates Augustus, the quintessential title of supreme imperial power; and Brit represents Britannicus, an official victory title granted in 210 AD during the British campaigns and retained proudly by Caracalla. The reverse legend reads P M TR P XV COS III P P, providing an exhaustive catalog of Caracalla's constitutional offices. Pontifex Maximus (P M), the chief priesthood of Rome, had been assumed by Caracalla upon his father's death; Tribunicia Potestate XV (TR P XV) records his fifteenth conferral of tribunician power; Consul III (COS III) marks his third ordinary consulship, which he entered in 208 AD; and Pater Patriae (P P), Father of the Country, reaffirms his patriarchal protection over the Roman people. The precision of these abbreviations allows modern numismatists to date the striking of this issue decisively to the calendar year 212 AD.

Typology and Chronological Classification

In the standard classification established by Harold Mattingly and Edward A. Sydenham in The Roman Imperial Coinage (RIC Vol. IV, Part I), this specific type is catalogued as number 196 under the sole reign of Caracalla. Within the chronology of 212 AD, Rome struck several distinct reverse types celebrating Caracalla's fifteenth tribunician year, including representations of Serapis, Mars, Hercules, Annona, and Libertas, in addition to Salus. The Salus seated type exists in minor stylistic die variations, principally concerning the posture of the serpent, the exact rendering of the altar, and whether the cornucopiae is held upright or angled slightly outward. The presence of the title BRIT on the obverse in conjunction with TR P XV confirms that the coin was struck before the assumption of the sixteenth tribunician power in early 213 AD and prior to the adoption of the title Germanicus later in 213 AD. RIC IV 196 is thus tightly bracketed within the single year 212 AD, functioning as a chronological anchor within Severan numismatics.

Circulation, Hoard Evidence, and Survival

Denarii of Caracalla from 212 AD entered an empire-wide monetary stream characterized by high velocity and prolonged circulation. Hoard evidence from Britain, Gaul, the Rhine and Danube frontiers, and Syria demonstrates that denarii of Caracalla circulated side by side with earlier Severan issues, Antonine silver, and later radiates well into the mid-third century AD. Because Severus and Caracalla had standardized the alloy of the denarius at approximately fifty percent silver, these coins were widely hoarded alongside earlier post-reform issues rather than being culled immediately by Gresham's Law. RIC IV Caracalla 196 appears regularly in major third-century hoards, such as the Shapwick and Dorchester deposits, often showing moderate to heavy wear consistent with several decades of commercial use before burial during the crises of the 250s and 260s AD. As a standard substantive type of the Rome mint in 212 AD, the issue survives in substantial numbers today across public museum collections and private holdings, providing invaluable material evidence for early Severan imperial administration.

References

1. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, Vol. V: Pertinax to Elagabalus. pp. 433-435
2. Money and Government in the Roman Empire. pp. 100-105
3. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC IV Caracalla 196. ric.4.crl.196
4. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Vol. IV, Part I: Pertinax to Geta. p. 238, no. 196