Elagabalus Silver Antoninianus RIC IV Elagabalus 72f

Monetary Context and Denominational Role

The antoninianus, or radiate silver piece, was introduced by Caracalla in AD 215 to address imperial fiscal pressures and escalating military expenditures. Valued at two denarii in state transactions despite containing only about one and a half times the silver content of an ordinary denarius, the denomination represented a profitable overvaluation for the imperial treasury. Caracalla's successor, Macrinus, curtailed its emission, and under Elagabalus the denomination was struck almost exclusively during the opening years of his reign, between AD 218 and 219. RIC IV Elagabalus 72f belongs to this limited revival, which was followed by an abrupt halt in antoninianus production at Rome around AD 219. The denomination remained dormant throughout the remainder of Elagabalus's reign and that of Severus Alexander, not returning to regular Roman production until AD 238 under Balbinus and Pupienus. In this monetary environment, the issue fulfilled payments to soldiers while extracting a modest seigniorage margin. The theoretical weight standard for the radiate piece during this period targeted approximately 5.0 to 5.2 grams, struck on silver flans that were steadily debased to roughly forty to forty-five percent fineness. By maintaining circulation alongside the standard denarius, the issue helped fund immediate accession bonuses and army upkeep before mint authorities decided to consolidate silver striking entirely into denarii.

Mint Production and Technical Execution

Production of RIC IV Elagabalus 72f was concentrated at the principal imperial mint in Rome. The metropolitan facility operated through organized divisions or officinae, each utilizing matched sets of hand-carved iron dies. Die engraving for this series displays the characteristic Severan style of the central Italian workshops, marked by neat lettering with compact serifs and expressive portraiture. Blanks were prepared by casting round flans in open molds, which were then adjusted in weight prior to striking between cold upper dies and secured lower anvil dies. Because of high-output striking conditions, die axes vary, though six o'clock and twelve o'clock orientations predominate. Irregularities in blank preparation occasionally produced oval flans, split edges, or slight off-center strikes, yet the Rome mint maintained a high standard of relief compared to contemporary provincial and eastern mints such as Antioch. Metallurgical testing on Severan antoniniani demonstrates an alloy composed of silver diluted with copper, lead, and trace amounts of bismuth or tin, often treated through surface enrichment before striking to present a brighter appearance on freshly issued specimens.

Obverse Iconography and Attributes

The obverse of RIC IV Elagabalus 72f presents a right-facing portrait bust of the teenage emperor wearing the radiate crown of the sun god Sol. In Roman numismatic convention, the radiate crown functioned as the distinctive mark of value distinguishing double-value denominations, including the antoninianus in silver and the dupondius in orichalcum. In this specific subtype designated by the suffix f, the imperial bust is both draped and cuirassed, showing paludamentum folds arranged over military breastplate detailing visible at the chest and shoulder. The portrait captures the youthful features of Elagabalus, shown with a smooth jaw, prominent nasal bridge, and tightly waved curls conforming to the stylized dynastic imagery modeled after Caracalla. The engraving reflects an ideological program intended to visually legitimize his claimed descent as the biological son of Caracalla, reinforcing imperial continuity amid a contested succession.

Reverse Typology and Allegory

The reverse iconography depicts the Roman personification Fides standing facing front with her head turned to the right. She is rendered in full drapery, wearing a stola and palla that fall in vertical folds to her feet. In her left hand, Fides holds an upright military standard (signum), while in her right hand she grasps a military vexillum, the square cavalry and detachment banner. This compositional pairing visually binds the allegorical virtue of fidelity to the concrete equipment of the Roman legions and praetorian cohorts. The turn of her head toward the right balances the upright vexillum and emphasizes vigilant watchfulness over the banners. Rather than celebrating an abstract civic harmony, the image explicitly invokes Fides Militum, the loyalty of the soldiers, functioning as direct acknowledgement of the military units in Syria and Rome that secured the throne for the Antonine restoration.

Epigraphy and Legends

The obverse inscription reads IMP ANTONINVS AVG, fully expressed as Imperator Antoninus Augustus. This brief, unnumbered title was characteristic of the early phase of the reign, omitting consulships and tribunician iterations. The name Antoninus was adopted deliberately to emphasize fictitious paternity and establish an unmistakable connection to Marcus Aurelius and Caracalla, while the emperor's birth name, Varius Avitus Bassianus, was completely omitted from official currency. On the reverse, the legend reads FIDES MILITVM, translating as 'The Loyalty of the Soldiers'. Letter forms are executed in classical Roman capital script, with clean upright strokes and subtle terminal serifs. The legend wraps continuously along the upper border of the coin, beginning at the lower left field and terminating in the lower right, neatly framing the personification and her standards within the beaded circular border.

Typological Classification and Chronology

In the fundamental framework of Roman Imperial Coinage, volume IV, part 2, edited by Harold Mattingly and Edward A. Sydenham, type 72 encompasses antoniniani bearing the obverse legend IMP ANTONINVS AVG and the reverse FIDES MILITVM. Subtype 72f is specifically distinguished by the bust treatment: radiate, draped, and cuirassed right, separating it from 72a (radiate, draped right) and 72b (radiate, cuirassed right). While Online Coins of the Roman Empire assigns a broad potential reign window of AD 218 to 222 based on the general catalogue framework, detailed hoards and stylistic analyses by numismatists demonstrate that radiate silver was struck exclusively during the earliest period of Elagabalus's rule, primarily from the summer of AD 218 into AD 219. By the time of his second consulship and subsequent monetary reorganizations at Rome, production of antoniniani was terminated, leaving the denarius as the sole circulating silver denomination for the remainder of the reign.

Circulation, Hoards, and Deposition

Specimens of RIC IV Elagabalus 72f circulated widely throughout the military zones of the Roman world, particularly along the Rhine and Danube frontiers and within Roman Britain. Significant quantities of early Severan antoniniani have been recovered in major hoard deposits, including the Falkirk hoard in Scotland and several French and German frontier accumulations. In routine commercial circulation, these pieces frequently circulated side by side with worn denarii of the Antonine and early Severan dynasties. Because the public recognized the intrinsic silver disparity between an antoninianus and two individual denarii, Gresham's Law influenced behavior, causing higher-purity older silver to be hoarded while debased radiates remained active in regional market exchanges. By the mid-third century AD, following the large-scale reintroduction and debasement of the antoninianus under Gordian III and Decius, early Severan issues of Elagabalus were gradually melted down or lost, disappearing from circulation before the major inflation of the AD 260s.

References

1. Coin Hoards and Hoarding in the Roman Empire. pp. 87-95
2. The Metallurgy of Roman Silver Coinage: From the Reform of Nero to the Reform of Trajan Decius. pp. 583-591
3. Coinage in the Roman Economy, 300 B.C. to A.D. 700. pp. 125-132
4. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC IV Elagabalus 72f. ric.4.el.72f
5. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Volume IV, Part II: Macrinus to Pupienus. pp. 30-31, no. 72f