Elagabalus Silver Denarius RIC IV Elagabalus 87

Monetary Context and Severan Silver Policy

During the late Severan dynasty, the silver denarius remained the primary unit of state accounting and military remuneration across the Roman Empire, despite severe ongoing monetary debasement. Following the fiscal pressures exacerbated by Septimius Severus and Caracalla, the silver fineness of the denarius hovered between 40 and 45 percent, with the remainder composed of base copper alloy. Although Caracalla had introduced the double denarius or antoninianus in AD 215 to alleviate liquidity shortages, the production of that denomination was largely suspended under Elagabalus, restoring the traditional denarius to supremacy in daily treasury disbursements. RIC IV Elagabalus 87 was struck within this precarious economic framework, adhering to an average weight standard of roughly 3.0 to 3.2 grams and a nominal diameter between 18 and 20 millimeters. While economic instability and inflationary pressures affected the empire, the output of denarii under Elagabalus was prolific, driven by the constant necessity to pay legionary salaries, fund imperial donatives, and finance lavish religious festivals. The issue of RIC IV 87 reflects both the fiscal continuation of Severan standards and a radical rupture in imperial monetary propaganda, utilizing the widely circulating denarius to disseminate the emperor's controversial theological agenda.

Mint Production and Technical Characteristics

The production of RIC IV Elagabalus 87 is securely attributed to the imperial mint of Rome, which operated multiple administrative divisions or officinae dedicated to striking precious metal coinage. Engravers at the Rome mint executed this series with high technical skill, cutting intricate dies capable of rendering the fine details of the Syrian liturgical garments and delicate sacrificial apparatus. Blanks were prepared by casting flans from molten debased silver alloy, which were subsequently hammered between hand-held engraved dies. Die alignment on these issues is predominantly six o'clock or twelve o'clock, reflecting standardized workshop practices at the capital. Surviving specimens show that die wear was frequently tolerated due to urgent mint quotas, resulting in examples that exhibit minor die fatigue or flow lines across the outer lettering. Despite the rapid pace of coin production during Elagabalus's later years, the Rome mint maintained strict control over the visual clarity of the reverse tableau, ensuring that subtle attributes such as the star, the tripod altar, and the horn beside the altar were legible to contemporary handlers.

Obverse Iconography: The Horned Portrait

The obverse of RIC IV Elagabalus 87 presents an adolescent bust of the emperor turned to the right, adorned with a laurel wreath and draped in military or civilian garb. The defining numismatic feature of this portrait is the horn projecting prominently from above the emperor's forehead. First appearing on imperial issues around late AD 220 or 221, this unusual attribute has elicited extensive academic inquiry. Early modern numismatists often viewed the object with perplexity, sometimes mistaking it for a lock of hair or an exaggerated ribbon. Twentieth- and twenty-first-century scholarship, including studies by Harold Mattingly and Martin Beckmann, has demonstrated that the horn represents a sacred sacerdotal implement or amulet connected to the cult of Elagabal. The appendage has been interpreted as a dried bull horn symbolizing virility, celestial strength, and divine favor, or alternatively as a ritual priestly appliance tied to Semitic cultic practices. By adorning his official likeness with this sacred insignia alongside the traditional imperial laurel wreath, Elagabalus visibly synthesized imperial monarchical power with foreign priestly identity, projecting a visage that was both spiritually exceptional and profoundly alien to Roman conservative traditions.

Reverse Iconography: Syrian Ritual and Celestial Attributes

The reverse design of RIC IV Elagabalus 87 captures an explicit ritual act performed by the emperor in his role as high priest of the sun god of Emesa. Elagabalus stands facing left, draped in long, flowing Syrian sacerdotal garments rather than the toga praetexta customary for a Roman pontifex maximus conducting state sacrifice. In his right hand, he holds a patera, a libation bowl, poised over a lighted tripod altar from which delicate smoke ascends. In his lowered left hand, he grasps a sacred cypress branch or laurel sprig, an essential component of eastern purification rites. At the foot of the altar, placed on the ground to the right, lies a horn or similar ritual vessel, further reinforcing the sacrificial setting. Above the scene in the upper left or central field floats an eight-rayed or six-rayed star, a direct celestial symbol signifying the solar deity Elagabal watching over and validating the sacred proceedings. The entire composition departs dramatically from traditional Roman sacrificial scenes, emphasizing exotic liturgical vestments and direct personal communion with the supreme solar power.

Epigraphic Analysis and Titular Significance

The obverse legend reads IMP ANTONINVS PIVS AVG, representing an abbreviated rendering of Imperator Antoninus Pius Augustus. This epigraphic formula was inherited directly from the prestigious Antonine dynasty, deliberately linking Elagabalus to Caracalla and Marcus Aurelius to bolster his hereditary legitimacy among the legions and civilian populace. The reverse legend, INVICTVS SACERDOS AVG, translates directly as the unconquered priest of the emperor or the unconquered imperial priest. The choice of the adjective invictus, typically reserved for military triumphs or the unconquered sun god Sol Invictus, reflects an audacious theological assertion. Rather than celebrating military conquests or civic peace, the legend exalts the emperor's sacred status as an invincible pontiff of an imported oriental cult. This titular emphasis marked a radical departure from conventional imperial titulature, subordinating traditional Roman magistracies and military accolades to supreme sacerdotal rank, an epigraphic choice that alarmed contemporary senatorial observers such as Cassius Dio.

Typological Placement and Chronology

Within the cataloguing scheme of The Roman Imperial Coinage, RIC IV Elagabalus 87 belongs to the distinct late group of priestly types struck at Rome during the fourth and fifth consulships of the reign, spanning approximately AD 221 to 222. While OCRE and standard broad classifications encompass the entire reign from AD 218 to 222, detailed stylistic and hoards analyses place the horned bust issues firmly in the final twelve to eighteen months before the emperor's assassination in March AD 222. RIC IV 87 belongs to a thematic series of sacerdotal denarii that includes related types bearing the legends SVMMVS SACERDOS AVG and SACERD DEI SOLIS ELAGAB. Unlike earlier Rome issues that focused on traditional imperial virtues such as Fides, Pax, and Providentia, this series coincided with the installation of the sacred black baetyl of Emesa in the newly dedicated Elagabalium on the Palatine Hill. The type demonstrates consistent die engraving characteristics characteristic of this culminating period, serving as an indelible numismatic marker of the regime's ultimate ideological phase.

Circulation Patterns and Archaeological Evidence

Hoard evidence across the European and Near Eastern provinces indicates that RIC IV Elagabalus 87 circulated widely alongside earlier Severan silver coinage. Because imperial soldiers and state bureaucrats were paid directly in freshly minted denarii from Rome, these priestly issues were swiftly disbursed to frontier legions along the Rhine, Danube, and eastern borders. Significant Severan-era hoards, such as the Reka Devnia hoard discovered in modern Bulgaria, contained thousands of denarii of Elagabalus, including dozens of specimens representing the INVICTVS SACERDOS AVG reverse type. Despite the profound damnatio memoriae enacted against Elagabalus following his violent death in March AD 222, his silver denarii were not systematically recalled or melted down on a widespread scale. The acute need for silver currency throughout the third-century crisis ensured that these coins remained in active circulation for decades, frequently showing heavy circulation wear in late third-century hoards before the monetary reforms of Diocletian.

References

1. The Horn on the Coins of Elagabalus, American Journal of Numismatics. vol. 14, 2002, pp. 53-67
2. The Severan Coinage: Circulation, Debasement, and Hoard Dynamics. pp. 112-128
3. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, Volume V: Pertinax to Elagabalus. pp. 562-564
4. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Volume IV, Part II: Macrinus to Pupienus. pp. 35-36, no. 87
5. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC IV Elagabalus 87. RIC IV Elagabalus 87