Elagabalus Bronze Dupondius, RIC IV Elagabalus 328

Monetary Context and Denominational Role

During the Severan period, the Roman monetary system maintained the traditional Augustan denominations of base metal coinage alongside the rapidly debasing silver denarius and antoninianus. The dupondius held a tariffed value of two asses, or half of a sestertius, serving as essential medium-level token currency for daily retail commerce across the empire. Traditionally manufactured from orichalcum (a golden-hued brass alloy of copper and zinc), the dupondius had historically been distinguished from the pure copper as by both its composition and distinct visual markers. By the early third century AD, the distinction between brass and bronze had become less strictly controlled in metallurgical terms, as repeated recycling of earlier coinage increasingly mixed secondary copper alloys. To prevent confusion in exchange, the radiate crown remained the inviolable visual identifier for dupondii, contrasting with the laureate wreath reserved for the sestertius and as. RIC IV Elagabalus 328 belongs to the penultimate full year of the princeps's administration, struck amid ongoing monetary challenges where base-metal issues suffered from reduced production relative to the massive output of silver coinages required for military pay.

Production Standards and Mint Operation

The entire attested run of RIC IV Elagabalus 328 was produced under central administrative authority at the Rome mint, which monopolized regular senatorial bronze and orichalcum striking during this phase of the Severan dynasty. Flans were cast in individual molds or prepared from cast strip blanks before being hot-struck between engraved iron or bronze dies. The target weight standard for early third-century dupondii typically fluctuated between 11 and 13 grams, though individual flans frequently diverged from this norm due to lax weight controls for base-metal token denominations. The alloy composition relied on orichalcum, though chemical and spectroscopic analyses of Severan aes consistently reveal diminished zinc content alongside trace inclusions of lead and tin, reflecting the pragmatic remelting of older civic and imperial bronze. Dies were aligned predominantly at a regular vertical axis, typical of Rome mint practice during the third century AD, demonstrating professional workshop organization despite political turmoil in the imperial court.

Obverse Typology and Imperial Portraiture

The obverse of RIC IV Elagabalus 328 features a right-facing bust of the youthful emperor, rendered with the mature portrait conventions adopted during the latter half of his reign. The emperor is depicted draped and cuirassed, wearing military dress that signaled his nominal role as commander of the legions, although he rarely campaigned in person. The most prominent denominational feature is the radiate crown resting atop his short, textured curls. The rays emanate outward in sharp relief, serving simultaneously as an imperial marker of the dupondius denomination and an emblematic connection to solar divinity. Die cutters at Rome rendered Elagabalus with recognizable Severan familial traits, including the soft facial contours and prominent brow designed to reinforce his fictitious parentage as the biological son of Caracalla, a lineage essential for maintaining the loyalty of the Praetorian Guard and provincial legions.

Reverse Iconography and Religious Imagery

The reverse of the type presents one of the most culturally distinctive iconographic schemes in the entire Imperial Roman series. It depicts Elagabalus standing facing left, dressed not in the customary Roman toga of the Pontifex Maximus, but in flowing, patterned Syrian priestly vestments associated with the hereditary priesthood of Elagabal at Emesa. In his right hand, the emperor extends a patera to pour a libation over an ignited, garlanded altar standing before him. In his left hand, he holds a club, interpreted by scholars either as a ceremonial implement of the Emesene solar cult or an attribute linking the rite to divine authority. Behind the sacrificial altar crouches a sacrificial bull, the traditional supreme victim of solar and Near Eastern sacrificial rites. High in the field appears an eight-rayed celestial star, symbolizing the sun god Elagabal and the cosmological favor enveloping the emperor's sacred duties. Flanking the lower composition are the letters S C, acknowledging the nominal authority of the Senate.

Epigraphic Program and Inscriptional Analysis

The obverse inscription reads IMP CAES M AVR ANTONINVS PIVS AVG, an abbreviation for Imperator Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Pius Augustus. This formal nomenclature systematically omits the Syriac name Elagabalus, which was never employed on official coinage, relying instead on the revered name of Antoninus adopted to legitimize his claim to the imperial throne through Caracalla. On the reverse, the legend P M TR P IIII COS III P P S C encapsulates the complete imperial titulature for the year of production. The formula expands to Pontifex Maximus, Tribunicia Potestate IIII, Consul III, Pater Patriae, Senatus Consulto. The recording of the fourth tribunician power alongside the third consulship provides an exact chronological anchor for the striking of the dies to AD 221. The inclusion of S C on the reverse field maintains the legal fiction that base-metal coinage was authorized by senatorial decree, even while the accompanying design aggressively promoted foreign religious rites to which the traditional Roman senatorial class remained deeply opposed.

Typological Development and Chronology

RIC IV Elagabalus 328 represents a tightly defined, single-year emission within the broader series of priestly issues that began in late AD 220 and dominated the mint of Rome throughout AD 221 and early 222. When Elagabalus entered his fourth tribunician year in AD 221, the Rome mint was instructed to align the imperial imagery almost exclusively with his duties as the Sacerdos Amplissimus Dei Invicti Solis Elagabali (Supreme Priest of the Undefeated Sun God Elagabal). The sacrificial type with altar, bull, and star was produced in precious metals, sestertii, and dupondii simultaneously. While the sestertii shared identical reverse legends and iconography, they bore a laureate bust, reserving the radiate bust exclusively for this dupondius. Typologically, RIC 328 reflects the height of the emperor's religious revolution, preceding the subsequent issues of AD 222 (TR P V COS IIII) that immediately preceded his assassination and the subsequent damnatio memoriae enacted against his monuments and memory.

Circulation Patterns and Monetary Survival

Dupondii of the later Severan period circulated primarily within Italy and the western European provinces, including Gaul, the Rhineland, and Britain, where base-metal token denominations remained necessary for small-scale civic market exchange. In contrast, the eastern provinces predominantly relied on locally produced civic bronze coinages, meaning that issues like RIC 328 rarely traveled eastward in significant quantities except through official administrative or military transfers. Archaeological site finds from military forts and civilian settlements across the Rhine and Danube frontiers demonstrate that Severan dupondii experienced sustained circulation, frequently remaining in active commercial pools for decades until the monetary collapses of the mid-third century AD. Because third-century dupondii were struck in far lower numbers than early Antonine or Severan sestertii, surviving specimens of RIC 328 are comparatively scarce, often surviving in worn condition that reflects prolonged circulation before deposition.

References

1. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, Vol. V: Pertinax to Elagabalus. Section on Elagabalus, Rome Mint, AD 221
2. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC IV Elagabalus 328. ric.4.el.328
3. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Vol. IV, Part II: Macrinus to Pupienus. p. 59, no. 328