Elagabalus Silver Denarius, RIC IV Elagabalus 140d

Monetary Context and Severan Silver Standards

The accession of Varius Avitus Bassianus under the imperial name Marcus Aurelius Antoninus in 218 AD placed imperial finances in a delicate transition following the brief reign of Macrinus. Under the Severan dynasty, the silver denarius served as the central accounting and disbursing currency of the empire, although its metallic integrity had progressively deteriorated. Septimius Severus had substantially lowered the silver content of the denarius in 194 AD, reducing its fineness to approximately fifty percent, a standard that Caracalla maintained until the introduction of the double denarius or antoninianus in 215 AD. Macrinus temporarily sought to adjust and stabilize the silver currency, but upon his overthrow in 218 AD, the advisers of the adolescent Elagabalus restored standard Severan production parameters. During Elagabalus's reign from 218 to 222 AD, the denarius experienced prolific output, especially during the early years when enormous military gratuities and administrative outlays were necessary to secure dynastic stability. The double denarius was struck only sporadically before being discontinued entirely at Rome around 219 AD, leaving the traditional denarius as the undisputed primary vehicle for imperial payments. Struck at a target standard of approximately three grams to 3.2 grams, the silver denarius of Elagabalus contained roughly forty-six to forty-eight percent pure silver alloyed with copper. RIC IV Elagabalus 140d represents an integral component of this mass silver emission, reflecting the regime's heavy reliance on the traditional denomination to meet domestic obligations, urban food supply subsidies, and army salaries across the imperial provinces.

Production and Mint Allocation

The production of RIC IV Elagabalus 140d was situated at the principal imperial mint in Rome. While branch workshops operated in the East, notably at Antioch, to supply imperial forces and regional administrations during the emperor's movement toward the West, the primary production of coins reading IMP CAES M AVR ANTONINVS AVG with standard imperial reverse personifications took place within the organized workshops of the capital. Analysis of die distribution, style, and fabric clearly situates the series at Rome. The mint of Rome operated using multiple numbered or unnumbered officinae that prepared flans, carved dies, and executed striking in high volume. Flans were cast in open or tiered moulds, producing circular to slightly oval blanks that were subsequently struck by hand between engraved lower obverse dies and upper reverse dies. The alignment of dies for this issue typically follows the standard Roman imperial medal-alignment conventions, frequently clustering near twelve o'clock or six o'clock orientations. The engravers at Rome demonstrated a refined urban style, characterized by a rounded portrait outline, detailed treatment of the laurel wreath ties, and finely rendered anatomical and drapery folds on both obverse and reverse figures. The production scale of the Rome mint during this phase accounts for subtle stylistic variations among individual dies while preserving the exact prescribed iconographic program.

Obverse Iconography and Portrait Variety

The obverse of RIC IV Elagabalus 140d depicts the right-facing bust of the young emperor wearing a laurel wreath, draped over the shoulders, and fitted with military cuirass. The combination of laureate wreath, drapery, and cuirass is the defining formal characteristic that distinguishes subtype 140d from related variants within the overarching type 140 catalogued by Mattingly and Sydenham, such as 140a (laureate head right), 140b (laureate and draped bust right), or 140c (laureate and cuirassed bust right). The portraiture reflects the early visual presentation of the young prince, who took power while still in his early teens. The face is shown with smooth youthful contours, devoid of the short sideburns or light beard that would appear on later issues around 221 and 222 AD. The imperial laurel wreath, tied at the nape with ribbon ends extending onto the neck, asserts triumphant majesty and legitimate authority. The inclusion of the paludamentum over armor visibly projects the ruler as commander of the Roman military, reinforcing the soldier-emperor ethos essential to Severan dynastic survival despite the prince's youth and priestly background.

Reverse Design: The Salus Typology

The reverse of RIC IV Elagabalus 140d is dedicated to the divine personification Salus, the Roman embodiment of health, preservation, and societal well-being. Salus is rendered draped in a full stola, standing turned toward the right. In her arms she cradles a sacred serpent, holding it upward toward her chest, while her left hand supports a shallow patera or feeding dish from which the serpent feeds. The serpent feeding from a patera is a canonical Roman iconographic motif derived from the cult of the Greek deity Hygieia and adapted into Roman state religion via Aesculapius and the indigenous worship of Salus Publica. In Roman imperial theology, Salus did not simply represent medical wellness; she stood as the divine guarantor of the emperor's personal physical safety and the collective stability of the Roman commonwealth. By presenting Salus in the active, intimate posture of nourishing the sacred serpent, the coin communicated that the physical preservation of the young monarch was actively tended by divine grace, assuring peace, health, and cosmic favor for the entire empire.

Inscriptions and Epigraphic Analysis

The inscriptions on RIC IV Elagabalus 140d are struck in classic Roman capital letters and deliver targeted political messaging on both faces of the flan. The obverse legend reads IMP CAES M AVR ANTONINVS AVG, transcribed in full as Imperator Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus. This formulaic titulature is significant for early Severan chronology: it incorporates the full praenomen, nomen, and cognomen adopted to present the emperor as the direct continuation of Caracalla (who had likewise ruled as Marcus Aurelius Antoninus) and the Antonine lineage. The lack of specific tribunician numbers, consulship designations, or the title Pater Patriae indicates that this legend was adopted at the outset of the reign before iterative administrative renewals dominated the reverse legends. The reverse inscription reads SALVS ANTONINI AVG, translating as 'The Health (or Safety) of Antoninus Augustus'. Unlike generalized reverse formulas such as SALVS AVGG or SALVS PVBLICA, this specific phrasing explicitly personalizes the deity's protective function around Antoninus himself. The genitive construction ANTONINI AVG emphasizes that the emperor's personal survival is paramount. Epigraphically, the letters are rendered with neat, unserifed or lightly bracketed strokes typical of the mint of Rome during the early third century AD, running continuously clockwise along the outer border inside a beaded circle.

Typological Classification and Chronological Placement

In the standard classification established in The Roman Imperial Coinage (RIC), Volume IV, Part II, type 140 comprises denarii characterized by the obverse inscription IMP CAES M AVR ANTONINVS AVG paired with the reverse SALVS ANTONINI AVG. Harold Mattingly and Edward Sydenham subdivided the entry according to bust treatment, assigning the letter suffix 'd' specifically to specimens featuring a laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust facing right. In the British Museum collection catalogued by R. A. G. Carson, parallel specimens are classified within the early issues of Rome. Chronologically, this type belongs to the opening phase of Elagabalus's reign, typically dated between late 218 and 220 AD. In 218 AD, following the victory over Macrinus in June, the Rome mint was reopened under Antonine direction while the imperial court spent the winter in Asia Minor. By 219 AD, the standard emission series at Rome was fully active, producing types that linked the new prince's title to traditional Severan protective deities before the introduction of explicitly solar and Emesene motifs, such as the horn-adorned portraits or references to the god Elagabal. Thus, RIC IV Elagabalus 140d predates the controversial religious transformations that marked the emperor's later years in the capital.

Circulation, Hoard Evidence, and Loss Patterns

Denarii of Elagabalus struck at Rome, including RIC IV Elagabalus 140d, circulated heavily throughout the western and eastern provinces of the Roman Empire. Hoard evidence from Roman Britain, the Rhine and Danube frontiers, Gaul, and the Mediterranean littoral demonstrates that Severan denarii constituted the overwhelming majority of circulating silver currency from the 220s AD down to the monetary reforms of the mid-third century. Because Elagabalus's denarii possessed a lower silver purity than pre-Severan issues, they circulated side by side with older, worn coins of Septimius Severus and Caracalla in accordance with Gresham's law, while higher-purity Trajanic and Antonine denarii were progressively withdrawn or hoarded. When the antoninianus was reintroduced on a massive scale under Gordian III and Philip I in the 240s AD, denarii remained in everyday retail use before gradually being demonetized or melted down in the crisis years of the 250s and 260s AD. As a result, surviving specimens of RIC IV Elagabalus 140d exhibit a wide spectrum of preservation, ranging from lightly worn pieces preserved in military hoards buried during subsequent decades to heavily circulated coins lost in domestic and urban contexts.

References

1. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, Volume V: Pertinax to Elagabalus. pp. 540-545
2. Coinage in the Roman Economy, 300 B.C. to A.D. 700. pp. 125-132
3. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC IV Elagabalus 140d. ric.4.el.140d
4. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Volume IV, Part II: Macrinus to Pupienus. pp. 38-40, no. 140d