Elagabalus Silver Denarius RIC IV Elagabalus 187d

Monetary and Political Context

The accession of Elagabalus in May AD 218 was engineered by the women of the Severan dynasty and executed by the Third Gallic Legion stationed at Raphanaea in Syria. After defeating the emperor Macrinus outside Antioch in June AD 218, the fourteen-year-old sovereign established his court at Antioch for roughly a year before his formal progress toward Rome. The initial phase of his reign required substantial distributions of silver coin to secure the allegiance of eastern legions, maintain administrative stability, and fulfill the customary accession donatives promised to the troops. Imperial silver production at Antioch resumed at high volume, operating in parallel with the principal imperial mint at Rome. During this period, the Roman monetary system was contending with inflationary pressures and gradual debasement initiated under Septimius Severus and accelerated under Caracalla. Although Caracalla had introduced the double denarius or antoninianus in AD 215, Elagabalus continued producing traditional denarii in enormous numbers. Denarii of the Antioch series, such as RIC IV Elagabalus 187d, retained an official tariffing of twenty-five denarii to the gold aureus, despite possessing an intrinsic silver fineness that hovered around 40 to 45 percent silver with a balance of copper alloy. The production of the CONCORDIA MILIT type reflects an explicit fiscal and ideological necessity: communicating military concord directly to the legionaries whose payroll was settled in these newly struck silver pieces.

Production and Mint Attribution

RIC IV Elagabalus 187d was struck at the major Syrian mint of Antioch, the administrative center of the Roman Near East. In earlier numismatic scholarship of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, eastern imperial issues of Elagabalus were occasionally attributed to traveling military mints or minor Syrian workshops. However, modern die studies and stylistic analyses initiated by Harold Mattingly and expanded in subsequent corpora have firmly centered this substantial series at Antioch itself. The mint operated multiple officinae capable of handling both regional tetradrachms and imperial-denomination denarii. Technically, denarii of the Antioch mint from this period are distinguished from contemporary Rome mint products by their distinctive artistic style and physical fabric. Antioch portrait dies typically feature higher relief, sharp, angular cutting, and an individualized rendering of the young emperor characterized by an elongated facial profile, almond-shaped eyes, and tightly curled hair. Flans were prepared by casting round blanks, resulting in typical diameters ranging between 18 and 20 millimeters. Weight standards for these denarii were calibrated to a modal mean around 3.0 grams, though surviving preserved specimens display a typical spread between 2.7 and 3.3 grams due to irregular blank production and alloy variation. The physical striking utilized fixed or semi-fixed dies, commonly aligned at an approximate six o'clock or twelve o'clock die axis.

Obverse Design and Portraiture

The obverse of RIC IV Elagabalus 187d displays the bust of Elagabalus facing right. Specific to the sub-type 187d, the imperial portrait is fully adorned: the young prince is shown wearing a laurel wreath, with drapery and a military cuirass visible across the shoulders and chest. The laurel wreath symbolizes imperial victory and supreme civil authority, its ties trailing neatly down the back of the neck. The inclusion of the cuirass beneath the imperial cloak emphasizes the martial role of the emperor as commander-in-chief, a relevant detail given the military origins of his elevation. In the classification established in Roman Imperial Coinage, type 187 is subdivided into discrete lettered varieties according to the drapery and armor shown on the portrait bust. While variant 187a features a laureate, draped bust, and 187b or 187c present other cuirass configurations, 187d specifically catalogued specimens that combine both drapery and cuirass. The Antioch die cutters portrayed Elagabalus with youthful yet assertive features, suppressing excessive juvenile frailty in favor of a stern, standardized Severan visage that deliberately evoked the portraiture of his putative father, Caracalla.

Reverse Iconography

The reverse of RIC IV Elagabalus 187d depicts a focused military display: two Roman military signa or standards, flanking or incorporating vexilla surmounted by legionary eagles. The Roman army held standards in profound religious reverence, regarding them as sacred emblems of corporate identity, divine protection, and martial honor. The juxtaposition of standards and eagles directly symbolized the cohesion, loyalty, and collective strength of the imperial legions. Unlike reverse compositions of the same general theme that include personifications of Concordia or Fides holding the standards, this type relies strictly on aniconic military equipment to convey its message. By placing the standards centrally and flanked by eagles, the Antioch engravers produced a visually balanced, symmetrical design that filled the flan effectively. The standards are rendered with meticulous detail on fresh dies, revealing decorative disks, cross-bars, fringed vexillum banners, and finely sculpted eagles with wings folded or half-spread. This configuration highlighted the indispensable bond between the emperor and the eastern frontier army, reinforcing the mutual oath of loyalty pledged after the defeat of Macrinus.

Epigraphy and Legends

The obverse inscription reads ANTONINVS PIVS FEL AVG, arranged clockwise along the rim starting from the lower left. This legend translates as 'Antoninus Pius Felix Augustus'. By assuming the revered name Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, which Caracalla had also borne, Elagabalus established an ideological continuum with the Antonine and early Severan golden age. The titles Pius ('Pious') and Felix ('Fortunate' or 'Blessed') were traditional imperial epithets expressing divine favor, justice, and dutifulness, while Augustus denoted his supreme constitutional authority. The epigraphy at Antioch is characterized by neat, narrow, serifed lettering, often noticeably more compact than Rome mint lettering. The reverse inscription reads CONCORDIA MILIT, an abbreviated form of Concordia Militum, translating to 'Harmony of the Soldiers' or 'Military Concord'. In imperial propaganda, Concordia Militum was among the most crucial political slogans, asserting that the various legions across the empire stood united in steadfast loyalty toward the ruling emperor. By omitting lengthy titulature on the reverse, the mint gave maximum prominence to this single, urgent political proclamation.

Typology and Chronological Placement

Within the typology of Elagabalus's coinage, RIC IV Elagabalus 187 represents a key non-dated eastern denarius issue. While the broad cataloging in Roman Imperial Coinage assigns eastern issues to the overall span of his reign from AD 218 to 222, historical and numismatic evidence firmly situates the primary output of this series in the opening phase of his rule, between mid-218 and mid-219. During this initial year, Elagabalus resided at Antioch, where the local mint was tasked with striking vast quantities of imperial silver before the court relocated to Rome for the winter of AD 219. Type 187 sits alongside several companion issues struck at Antioch that share the obverse legend ANTONINVS PIVS FEL AVG paired with various reverse themes celebrating army loyalty, such as FIDES MILITVM and FIDES EXERCITVS, as well as religious dedications to Sol Elagabal and regional personifications. The division of type 187 into sub-varieties (187a through 187d) rests entirely on bust treatment. Variety 187d documents the specific pairing of the draped and cuirassed bust facing right with the eagle-and-standards reverse. Because these coins lack tribunician years or consulships, absolute year boundaries remain tied to stylistic evolution and die links that connect Antioch's early denarii with contemporaneous local bronze and provincial silver issues.

Circulation and Archaeological Context

Denarii minted at Antioch under Elagabalus, including RIC 187d, circulated throughout the Roman Empire but exhibit their densest presence in Near Eastern contexts and Danubian military frontiers. Although Syrian provincial tetradrachms served as the predominant high-value silver currency for local commerce in Syria, Phoenicia, and Palestine, imperial denarii were required for cross-provincial trade, tax remittances to central administrative bodies, and legionary pay disbursements. Consequently, soldiers moving along the eastern limes or transferring between Syrian bases and European commands carried these coins well outside their region of manufacture. In hoards documented across the Levant, Mesopotamia, and the Balkan provinces, Antioch denarii of Elagabalus frequently appear alongside Rome mint issues of the same period, as well as earlier Severan and Antonine coinage. These deposits demonstrate that while provincial tetradrachms often stayed within regional boundaries, Antioch-struck imperial denarii circulated freely across the imperial monetary network, subject to identical tariffing and gradual wear. Over time, the debased silver content of these denarii caused them to be hoarded or later remelted during the third-century monetary crises under the soldier emperors, making well-preserved specimens of specific bust varieties like 187d valuable evidence for eastern mint administrative practices.

References

1. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, Vol. V: Pertinax to Elagabalus. pp. 582-585
2. Coinage in Roman Syria: Northern Syria, 64 BC - AD 253. pp. 95-101
3. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC IV Elagabalus 187d. ric.4.el.187d
4. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Vol. IV, Part II: Macrinus to Pupienus. pp. 45-47, no. 187