Elagabalus Silver Antoninianus RIC IV Elagabalus 18f

Monetary Context

The radiate silver denomination, commonly termed the antoninianus in modern scholarship, was created under Caracalla in AD 215 to address rising state expenditure and monetary strain. Tariffed nominally at two silver denarii, the antoninianus contained only approximately one and a half times the silver content of a contemporary denarius, creating an overvalued currency that provided short-term fiscal relief to the imperial treasury. Production of the denomination paused under Macrinus before resuming in substantial quantities during the initial years of Elagabalus's reign. RIC IV Elagabalus 18f was struck during this initial Severan restoration, minted alongside standard denarii in AD 219. Within this dual-denomination silver system, the antoninianus served high-value transaction needs, including military pay and bulk provincial distributions. However, its overvaluation relative to intrinsic silver content encouraged hoarding of older, purer denarii, accelerating the monetary instability that eventually led Elagabalus's administration to discontinue antoninianus production around AD 219 or early AD 220, leaving the denarius as the primary circulating silver piece until the denomination's revival under Pupienus, Balbinus, and Gordian III.

Production and Mint Organization

RIC IV Elagabalus 18f was struck exclusively at the principal imperial mint in Rome. During the early reign of Elagabalus, the mint of Rome operated with multiple distinct workshops, or officinae, which shared the burden of striking base-metal, silver, and gold denominations. The manufacture of silver antoniniani followed established mint practices: planchets were cast in round molds, hot-struck between engraved bronze or iron dies, and finished without officina marks, which were not yet customary on imperial silver issues. The weight standard for early Elagabalus antoniniani typically ranged between 4.5 and 5.5 grams, with an average silver fineness hovering between 40 and 50 percent, consistent with late Caracallan and early Severan debasement trends. Die-engraving at Rome displayed a high level of technical competency, maintaining standardized imperial iconography across high-volume production runs. While contemporary eastern mints, such as Antioch, struck coinage for Elagabalus, this specific reverse combination with the fully developed Rome-style portrait is confined to the metropolitan mint.

Obverse Design and Iconography

The obverse of RIC IV Elagabalus 18f features a right-facing bust of the emperor wearing a radiate crown, which served as the universal iconographic marker of double-denomination coinage in the High Roman Empire, distinguishing the antoninianus from the laureate denarius. The bust type is both draped and cuirassed, viewed from the side or slightly from the back, displaying military cuirass plates visible beneath the folds of the paludamentum. The portrait depicts Elagabalus as a youthful ruler, reflecting his accession in his early teens. His facial features follow the idealized Severan dynastic style established under Caracalla, intended to reinforce his claimed parentage as Caracalla's natural son and legitimate heir. The die engraving shows tight curls framing the forehead, a straight profile, and an absence of heavy facial hair, typifying the earliest phase of his metropolitan portraiture prior to the introduction of more personalized or Syrian-influenced stylistic traits seen in later regnal years.

Reverse Iconography and Symbolism

The reverse depicts Fortuna, the Roman personification of luck, fate, and successful guidance, draped and seated facing left upon a low seat. In her right hand, she holds a steering rudder resting on a terrestrial globe, symbolizing imperial guidance over world affairs. In her left hand, she cradles a cornucopiae, the horn of plenty, representing agricultural abundance and civic prosperity under the new regime. Positioned beneath the seat is a six-spoked wheel, an ancient attribute of Fortuna illustrating the cyclical nature of human destiny and the continuous rotation of fortune. While often invoked under the specific aspect of Fortuna Redux to commemorate an emperor's safe return to Rome, this variant carries the standard sovereign titles rather than an explicit dedicatory epithet. The imagery conveyed an urgent political message of stability and divine favor, assuring the Senate and the Roman populace that the newly arrived Severan emperor would govern prudently and restore fortune to the state.

Inscriptions and Epigraphy

The inscriptions on RIC IV Elagabalus 18f provide critical chronological and political data. The obverse legend reads IMP ANTONINVS AVG, an abbreviated Latin formula expanding to Imperator Antoninus Augustus. By styling himself Antoninus, Elagabalus overtly claimed the prestigious Antonine heritage and dynastic legitimacy derived from Marcus Aurelius and Caracalla, while entirely omitting his birth name of Varius Avitus Bassianus. The reverse legend bears the continuous imperial title P M TR P II COS II P P, expanding to Pontifex Maximus, Tribunicia Potestate II, Consul II, Pater Patriae. This epigraphic sequence records Elagabalus as high priest, holder of tribunician power for the second time, consul for the second time, and father of the fatherland. The recording of the second consulship and second tribunician power dates the production securely to AD 219, as Elagabalus entered his second consulship alongside Quintus Tineius Sacerdos on January 1, AD 219. The lettering is cleanly cut in standardized imperial capital script with modest serifing along the outer rim.

Typology and Chronological Placement

Within the typology of Elagabalus's coinage, RIC IV Elagabalus 18f belongs to the dated series of AD 219 struck at Rome. It is classified under type 18 in Roman Imperial Coinage Volume IV Part II, with the sub-variety letter 'f' denoting the specific bust combination of radiate, draped, and cuirassed facing right. Other varieties of RIC 18 feature alternative bust treatments, such as radiate draped right without cuirass (variety 'c') or radiate cuirassed right without drapery (variety 'd'). The type corresponds closely to identical dated reverse types struck on standard denarii (RIC IV 17 and 19), which feature laureate portraits of the emperor. The minting of this type occurred after Elagabalus's ceremonial entry into Rome in mid-219 and before his assumption of the third tribunician power and third consulship on January 1, AD 220. Because antoninianus production was phased out shortly thereafter, RIC 18f stands among the final regular issues of this denomination struck during Elagabalus's reign.

Circulation Patterns and Hoard Evidence

Coins of type RIC IV Elagabalus 18f circulated widely throughout the western and Danubian provinces, as well as the Italian peninsula, reflecting the broader dispersal of metropolitan silver coinage. Hoard evidence from Roman Britain, Gaul, Germany, and the Balkans demonstrates that antoniniani of Caracalla and Elagabalus frequently traveled together in military stipends and merchant caches. However, because the antoninianus was minted in far smaller total numbers under Elagabalus than the denarius, specimens of RIC 18f appear in significantly lower proportions within mixed Severan hoards. In hoards deposited during the mid-third century, such as those buried during the chaotic reigns of Decius or Gallienus, surviving early antoniniani are often found displaying moderate to heavy wear, indicating that they remained in commercial circulation for two to three decades after minting until the massive debasements of the AD 250s and 260s drove earlier Severan billon pieces out of active exchange.

References

1. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, Vol. V: Pertinax to Elagabalus. pp. 535-538
2. Description historique des monnaies frappees sous l'Empire Romain, Tome IV. p. 338, no. 147
3. Roman Coins from the Earliest Times to the Fall of the Western Empire. pp. 120-135
4. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC IV Elagabalus 18f. RIC IV Elagabalus 18f
5. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Vol. IV, Part II: Macrinus to Pupienus. pp. 29-30, no. 18f