Julia Maesa Silver Antoninianus, RIC IV Elagabalus 264

Monetary Context and the Antoninianus Under Elagabalus

The monetary system of the early third century AD operated under intensifying economic and fiscal pressures. In AD 215, the emperor Caracalla introduced a new silver denomination, known modernly as the antoninianus. Valued tariffed at two denarii, the new coin weighed only about 1.5 times the traditional denarius, presenting a theoretical weight of approximately 5.0 to 5.3 grams and an alloy containing roughly 50 percent silver. This intrinsic tariff discrepancy provided substantial fiscal profit for the imperial treasury while simultaneously exerting inflationary pressure on the wider economy. Following the brief usurpation and reign of Macrinus from AD 217 to 218, the accession of the adolescent Elagabalus saw the renewed striking of the antoninianus at the mint of Rome. The denomination served an urgent political need to satisfy large military donatives and reassert Severan fiscal continuity. For members of the imperial family, specific visual markers communicated the coin's double-denomination status: while male portraits featured the radiate crown associated with Sol, portraits of imperial women, such as Julia Maesa, featured a crescent moon positioned directly below the bust. RIC IV Elagabalus 264 was issued as part of this program, circulating alongside the traditional denarius, which remained the dominant silver denomination in day-to-day transactions.

Mint Organization and Production Standards

The production of RIC IV Elagabalus 264 is firmly assigned to the imperial mint of Rome. Operating across several organized workshops or officinae, the mint produced high volumes of silver coinage to consolidate imperial authority following Elagabalus's march from the East to the capital. While Elagabalus struck some provincial and imperial issues in eastern cities such as Antioch, the metropolitan mint at Rome struck the vast majority of official antoniniani for the imperial court and dynastic women. The weight standard of antoniniani under Elagabalus shows considerable variation across surviving specimens, generally clustering between 4.3 and 5.5 grams, with an average weight centering around 4.8 to 5.0 grams. The metallurgical composition exhibits continued debasement, with silver fineness typically ranging between 40 and 46 percent, balanced primarily with copper. Dies were cut by experienced celators in Rome, adhering to established conventions of Severan portraiture while managing high output through systematic die-linking and rapid planchet preparation. The production of the antoninianus at Rome was curtailed relatively early in the reign, around AD 219 or 220, as the administration temporarily abandoned the double-denarius in favor of concentrated denarius striking.

Obverse Iconography and Imperial Representation

The obverse of RIC IV Elagabalus 264 presents a formal bust of Julia Maesa turned right. She is depicted draped in imperial robes, wearing a diadem over her hair. Her hairstyle is rendered in the characteristic Severan fashion of the period: carefully waved along the brow and sides, drawn back low, and turned up behind the nape of the neck in a broad, braided plait. Beneath the truncation of the bust rests an upward-curving crescent moon, the definitive numismatic signifier for a double denarius on female imperial portraits. Julia Maesa was the maternal grandmother of both Elagabalus and Severus Alexander, and she acted as the primary architect behind the coup that overthrew Macrinus. Her visual representation on official coinage does not emphasize extreme youth or idealized beauty; rather, it projects the dignified, mature presence of an experienced dynastic matriarch. The portraiture served as an essential tool of imperial legitimation, linking Elagabalus directly to the prestige and bloodline of his great-aunt Julia Domna and the founder of the dynasty, Septimius Severus.

Reverse Typology and Religious Iconography

The reverse of the coin features Pietas, the personification of religious duty, filial devotion, and respect for divine and familial order. Pietas stands facing left, fully draped in classical stola and palla. Her right hand is raised over a small, lighted altar standing at her feet, performing the ritual act of offering incense or pouring a libation. In her left hand, she holds an acerra, a small incense box used during traditional Roman sacrificial rituals. This composition was deeply embedded in Roman public religion and had been utilized frequently by preceding Antonine and Severan empresses. In the context of Julia Maesa under Elagabalus, the motif carried profound political weight. As Elagabalus introduced controversial religious reforms centered on the Emesan sun god Elagabal, traditional imagery such as Pietas sacrificing at a Roman altar provided a reassuring visual counterweight. It broadcasted to the Senate, soldiers, and citizenry that the dynastic Augusta remained faithfully devoted to the ancestral rites and sacred traditions of Rome.

Inscriptions and Epigraphic Analysis

The obverse inscription reads IVLIA MAESA AVG, an abbreviated epigraphic formula for Iulia Maesa Augusta. By omitting extensive filiation and lineage titles, the legend presents a concise and direct assertion of supreme female imperial rank. The title Augusta had been bestowed upon Maesa promptly after the defeat of Macrinus in AD 218, formalizing her supreme status within the imperial family. The reverse inscription reads PIETAS AVG, abbreviating Pietas Augustae or Pietas Augusti, translating to the Piety of the Augusta or the Piety of the Augustus. This grammatical ambiguity deliberately fused the personal piety of Julia Maesa with the official virtue of the ruling house. Epigraphically, the lettering conforms to the typical style of the Severan mint at Rome, exhibiting clean, well-proportioned capitals with small serifs. Legend breaks are consistent across dies, with the reverse text encircling the standing figure of Pietas from the lower left to the upper right without interruption, creating a balanced visual frame around the ritual act.

Chronological Framework and Typological Variants

The issuance of RIC IV Elagabalus 264 is dated between AD 218 and 222, with numismatic consensus placing its striking primarily within the early phase of the reign, circa AD 218 to 219 or 220. The antoninianus denomination was not minted uniformly across the entirety of Elagabalus's rule; studies of hoards and mint output indicate that production of the double denarius at Rome was suspended well before the end of his reign in AD 218 to 222. Within the specific typological envelope of RIC 264, minor variations occur in die execution, such as the exact size of the crescent beneath the bust, slight differences in the folds of the drapery, and minor stylistic shifts in the rendering of the sacrificial altar. However, the core iconographic elements, namely the diademed bust on crescent and Pietas sacrificing over an altar with incense box, remain stable. RIC IV Elagabalus 264 must be distinguished from the closely related denarius issues bearing the same legends and reverse iconography, which lack the crescent beneath the bust and conform to the lighter denarius standard.

Circulation, Hoard Evidence, and Economic Role

Antoniniani of Julia Maesa circulated across the Roman Empire, although their survival and distribution patterns reflect the denomination's temporary nature during this era. Hoard evidence from western provinces such as Britain, Gaul, and the Germanies, as well as finds from the Danubian frontier and Italy, shows that antoniniani of Elagabalus and his female relatives circulated alongside older Caracallan antoniniani and vast quantities of Severan denarii. Because the antoninianus contained less silver relative to its official two-denarius valuation, it operated as a tariffed token within the bimestral silver pool. Economic agents frequently hoarded finer denarii of the first and second centuries while spending more debased issues, in accordance with Gresham's law. When antoninianus production halted at Rome around AD 220, existing pieces like RIC 264 continued to pass hand-to-hand until they were either worn down, melted, or hoarded during the monetary disruptions of the mid-third century, prior to the massive reform of the denomination under Gordian III and his successors.

References

1. Coinage in the Roman Economy, 300 B.C. to A.D. 700. pp. 125-132
2. Coining Images of Power: Patterns in the Representation of Roman Emperors on Coinage (A.D. 193-284). pp. 175-188
3. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, Vol. V: Pertinax to Elagabalus. pp. 539-541
4. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC IV Elagabalus 264. ric.4.el.264
5. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Vol. IV, Part II: Macrinus to Pupienus. p. 60, no. 264