Elagabalus Bronze Sestertius, RIC IV Elagabalus 326

Monetary Context and Denominational Role

Under the Severan dynasty, the sestertius continued to function as the premier large-denomination token coinage within the Roman monetary system. Originating as a silver fraction during the Republic, the sestertius had been transformed during the Augustan monetary reforms into an impressive copper-alloy coin, struck in orichalcum (brass). By the early third century AD, inflation, rising military expenditures, and successive debasements of the primary silver denominations, notably the denarius and the newly introduced radiate antoninianus, placed increasing pressure on base-metal production. Nevertheless, the sestertius maintained a vital role in everyday high-value retail transactions, state accountancy, and civic commerce across the western Roman provinces. Nominally tariffed at four asses or one quarter of a silver denarius, the sestertius possessed an intrinsic metallic value significantly lower than its legal tender rate. The state derived fiscal seigniorage from its issue, relying on widespread public confidence and imperial legal decree to sustain its fiduciary purchasing power. In metallurgical composition, Severan sestertii exhibited an increasing admixture of scrap bronze, zinc, and lead, deviating from the bright yellow golden hue of Julio-Claudian brass toward darker bronze alloys. Despite these composition shifts, the large flan of the sestertius, typically measuring between 28 and 33 millimeters and weighing over 20 grams, offered the imperial government an expansive canvas for sophisticated ideological messaging, state religion, and dynastic self-presentation.

Production Standards and Mint Organization

The entire regular production of base-metal coinage bearing the senatorial formula S C during Elagabalus's reign was centralized at the primary imperial mint in Rome. While provincial cities across the Levant, Greece, and Asia Minor issued their own local civic bronzes, official imperial sestertii were manufactured exclusively under central administration to supply the capital, Italy, and the European legions. The physical production involved casting heavy copper-alloy flans, heating them to soften the metal, and striking them manually between hand-carved iron dies. Because flans were cast individually or in gang moulds and adjusted by filing, weights fluctuated around an imperial target standard, typically centering between 20 and 26 grams. The mint of Rome operated in distinct officinae (workshops) responsible for managing specific denominations and types. Dies for RIC IV Elagabalus 326 were engraved by skilled imperial celators who adhered to tightly prescribed typological guidelines while rendering intricate details, such as the folds of Syrian vestments and the subtle protrusion of the horn above the forehead. Die alignment was predominantly vertical, adhering to a 12 o'clock or 6 o'clock axial orientation. The high relief of the bust and reverse figural composition required substantial striking force, frequently leaving peripheral flan cracks, minor flow lines, or bevelled edges characteristic of heavy third-century struck bronze.

Obverse Iconography and Imperial Portraiture

The obverse of RIC IV Elagabalus 326 presents a mature right-facing bust of the young emperor, combining standard imperial insignia with an extraordinary religious emblem. Elagabalus is depicted laureate, draped, and cuirassed, uniting the military armor of an imperator with the civilian mantle and the civic triumph represented by the laurel wreath. The most remarkable feature of the portrait is the horn curving upwards from above the brow or integrated along the temples into the hair. In classical Roman art, horns were generally reserved for mythological entities such as Jupiter Ammon, Faunus, or river gods, making its appearance on living imperial portraits unprecedented. Modern numismatic and historical scholarship interprets this horn attribute as an emblem of divine investiture connected to the sun cult of Elagabal of Emesa. Scholars debate whether the object depicted represents a ram's horn, symbolic of solar potency and divine kingship in Syrian religious thought, or a bull's phallus dried and used as an amulet of fertility and priestly authority, as described in critical literary traditions. On high-grade specimens of RIC IV 326, the horn is rendered as a distinct cylindrical projection. Combined with the adolescent features of the emperor, the portrait deliberately fused Roman constitutional majesty with exotic Near Eastern sacral authority.

Reverse Iconography and Priestly Ritual

The reverse of RIC IV Elagabalus 326 portrays the emperor standing toward the left, actively engaged in a religious sacrifice. In sharp contrast to standard depictions of Roman emperors sacrificing capite velato (with the head veiled by a traditional toga), Elagabalus appears in full Syrian priestly vestments. These garments consist of a long, flowing tunic reaching down to the ankles, often richly embroidered or gathered, reflecting the sacred attire of the hereditary high priesthood of Emesa. In his outstretched right hand, the emperor holds a patera, a shallow libation dish from which he pours an offering over a low, lighted altar positioned at his feet. In his left hand, resting along his body or held upright, Elagabalus holds an aromatic leafy branch, historically catalogued in RIC and standard references as a cypress-branch or laurel-branch. In Levantine ritual practice, evergreen branches played an integral role in solar liturgies, purification ceremonies, and sacred processions honoring the sun stone of Emesa. Flanking the lower fields of the composition are the bold letters S and C (Senatus Consulto), confirming the formal decree of the Roman Senate sanctioning the bronze issue. The composition presents the ruler not as a passive magistrate, but as an active, consecrated priest performing alien rituals in the center of the Roman state.

Inscriptions and Epigraphic Analysis

The inscriptions on RIC IV Elagabalus 326 provide explicit chronological, titulary, and administrative data. The obverse legend reads IMP CAES M AVR ANTONINVS PIVS AVG. This formula translates as 'Imperator Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Pius Augustus'. By adopting the name of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, the young ruler directly claimed filial continuity with Caracalla and the prestigious Antonine dynasty, a dynastic fiction carefully cultivated by his grandmother Julia Maesa to legitimize his military elevation in AD 218. The epithet Pius signaled traditional religious dutifulness and filial loyalty, an ironic contrast to his radical religious reforms. The reverse inscription records the emperor's imperial offices alongside the senatorial authorization: P M TR P IIII COS III P P S C. This abbreviates Pontifex Maximus, Tribunicia Potestate Quarta, Consul Tertium, Pater Patriae, Senatus Consulto ('Chief Pontiff, in his fourth year of Tribunician Power, Consul for the third time, Father of the Country, by Decree of the Senate'). In Roman imperial epigraphy, tribunician renewals occurred annually. Because Elagabalus entered his fourth tribunician year in late AD 220 or early AD 221, and served his third consulship in AD 220 before entering his fourth consulship on January 1, AD 222, this exact pairing dates the production of the coin securely to the calendar year AD 221. The prominent S C serves as the constitutional guarantee of the base-metal coinage.

Typological Classification and Chronological Placement

Within the typology established by Harold Mattingly and Edward A. Sydenham in Roman Imperial Coinage (RIC), volume IV, part 2, number 326 belongs to the dated series struck in the final phases of Elagabalus's reign. During the first two years of his rule (AD 218 to 220), the emperor's coinage maintained relatively conventional themes, highlighting military loyalty (Fides Exercitus), imperial virtues (Victoria, Pax, Providentia), and standard sacrifices in traditional Roman toga. By late AD 220 and continuing through AD 221, the imperial mint drastically shifted its visual program to emphasize his supreme priesthood of the Emesene sun deity Elagabal. RIC IV 326 was issued alongside parallel denarii, aurei, and dupondii that bore matching reverse types of the emperor sacrificing in Syrian dress. Minor die variations exist within the type, primarily concerning the precise rendering of the imperial bust, such as the prominence of the horn or the fullness of the drapery over the cuirass, as well as slight variations in the spacing of the altar and branch on the reverse. Chronologically, this issue reflects the zenith of Elagabalus's religious program, preceding his estrangement from the praetorian guard, his adoption of Severus Alexander, and his subsequent assassination in March AD 222.

Circulation, Hoard Evidence, and Loss Patterns

Sestertii produced during the Severan period circulated extensively throughout the western provinces, including Italia, Gaul, the Rhine frontier, and Britannia, where base-metal currency was required to sustain local market exchange, military pay disbursements, and tax collection. Unlike precious-metal silver denarii and gold aurei, which were frequently hoarded during times of crisis, bronze sestertii remained in continuous circulation for decades. Archaeological findspots from western sites demonstrate that Severan bronze frequently circulated alongside worn issues from the Antonine and Flavian eras well into the middle of the third century AD. Due to the violent damnatio memoriae enacted against Elagabalus following his murder in AD 222, his portraits were occasionally subject to deliberate defacement, mutilation, or selective melting in public contexts. However, the sheer volume of bronze in active circulation meant that coins such as RIC IV 326 could not be comprehensively recalled. Most surviving specimens exhibit substantial abrasive wear, edge battering, and patina accretion resulting from long soil burial. Hoards containing bronze sestertii of Elagabalus generally belong to mid-third-century concealment horizons, illustrating that these coins served functional commercial purposes long after the religious controversies of AD 221 had subsided.

References

1. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, Vol. V: Pertinax to Elagabalus. pp. 586-588
2. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC IV Elagabalus 326. ric.4.el.326
3. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Vol. IV, Part II: Macrinus to Pupienus. p. 59, no. 326