Elagabalus Silver Denarius RIC IV Elagabalus 108

Monetary Context and Economic Environment

The monetary system of the Severan dynasty was characterized by persistent fiscal pressures and incremental currency debasement. Following the substantial reductions in the intrinsic value of the silver denarius initiated under Septimius Severus and continued under Caracalla, the currency inherited by Elagabalus in 218 AD possessed an average silver content hovering between forty and forty-six percent. Caracalla had introduced the double denarius (antoninianus) in 215 AD as an overvalued denomination to augment state revenues, but under Elagabalus, the production of the antoninianus was gradually curtailed in favor of massive denarius issues. RIC IV Elagabalus 108 fits directly into this concentrated output of denarii designed to meet military payrolls, administrative stipends, and imperial largesses (congiaria). While the denarius maintained an official tariffed value within the imperial monetary hierarchy, its purchasing power was increasingly eroded by the expanded volume of debased billon coins in general circulation.

Production Standards and Mint Attribution

The production of RIC IV Elagabalus 108 is securely assigned to the principal imperial mint at Rome. Although Syrian mints such as Antioch also struck substantial denarius series during the opening years of the reign while the imperial entourage lingered in the East, the stylistic execution, die carving conventions, and flan preparation of RIC 108 are entirely diagnostic of the metropolitan workshops. The Rome mint operated multiple officinae that produced parallel series marked by coordinated reverse motifs. The silver blanks were cast, heated, and struck between hand-carved iron dies. Weight standards for this type generally center around 2.9 to 3.2 grams, with recorded flan diameters spanning 18 to 20 millimeters. Axial die orientation for Rome during this period predominantly clusters around 12 or 6 o'clock, reflecting careful workshop alignment practices during the striking process.

Obverse Iconography and Epigraphy

The obverse of RIC 108 exhibits the bust of Elagabalus facing right, wearing a laurel wreath and draped paludamentum, accompanied by distinct signs of facial hair. The transition from the juvenile, clean-shaven portraits of 218-219 AD to the bearded portraits of 221-222 AD represents an intentional evolution in imperial portraiture, marking the emperor's formal assumption of adult military and civic authority. In some contemporary metropolitan dies, the emperor is depicted with a small conical horn extending above his forehead, though standard examples of RIC 108 feature the traditional wreath without the horn, retaining classic Roman imperial bust conventions. The surrounding inscription reads continuously from the lower left: IMP ANTONINVS PIVS AVG, directly asserting his title as Imperator and his dynastic name Antoninus Pius, a direct propagandistic invocation of Antonine legitimacy.

Reverse Design and Religious Imagery

The reverse composition presents Libertas, the personification of civic freedom and imperial clemency, standing draped facing left. In her extended right hand, she holds a pileus, the conical felt cap traditionally presented to freed slaves upon manumission in Roman society, symbolizing civil liberty and constitutional restoration. Her left hand rests upon a long transverse or vertical sceptre, signifying divine authority and sovereignty. Placed in the field beside the figure is a prominent star. While Libertas was an established personification under the Severan emperors to promote the illusion of constitutional governance and freedom from the tyranny attributed to Macrinus, the addition of the star introduces an eastern celestial dimension. Scholars interpret the star as a direct reference to the sun god Elagabal, of whom the emperor served as hereditary high priest, weaving the Syrian cult into the fabric of traditional Roman imperial virtues.

Epigraphic Structure and Significance

The inscriptions on RIC IV Elagabalus 108 are concise and ideologically charged. The obverse legend, IMP ANTONINVS PIVS AVG (Imperator Antoninus Pius Augustus), completely omits the emperor's genealogical filiation (such as Divi Antonini Filius) that characterized earlier accession issues, reflecting a mature phase where his titular authority was taken as established. The reverse legend, LIBERTAS AVG (Libertas Augusti), translates to 'the Liberty of the Augustus.' This phrase served a dual propagandistic purpose. Domestically, it reassured the Roman senatorial order and citizenry of the regime's adherence to the rule of law, while financially it stood in close ideological association with imperial bounties and civil indulgences. The pairing of traditional Latin constitutional terminology with the celestial star reveals the hybridization of conventional Roman civic virtues and foreign imperial theology.

Typology and Chronological Classification

In the foundational catalogue of Mattingly and Sydenham (RIC IV Part II), RIC 108 is placed among the undated issues of the Rome mint. However, modern chronological studies, notably those by Marcel Thirion and Harold Mattingly in BMCRE V, have established refined horizons based on portrait progression, obverse titulature, and reverse symbols. The introduction of the star in the field across multiple reverses coincides with the arrival of the sacred black stone of Emesa in Rome and the celebration of the emperor's later consulships. Furthermore, the explicit presence of facial hair indicates an issue date late in the reign, almost certainly between late 220 and the emperor's death in March 222 AD. RIC 108 is distinct from earlier clean-shaven Libertas types (such as RIC 107) and from antoniniani bearing similar reverse iconography.

Hoard Evidence and Monetary Circulation

Denarii of the RIC 108 type circulated widely across the Roman Empire, moving rapidly through both military networks on the northern frontiers and commercial channels in the Mediterranean basin. Hoard data from Roman Britain, the Rhine frontier, and the Balkan provinces frequently record specimens of late Severan denarii, including those of Elagabalus, circulating alongside older coins of Septimius Severus and Caracalla. Due to their consistent base-metal alloy of approximately forty to forty-five percent silver, these coins circulated readily without suffering immediate demonetization or selective hoarding under Gresham's Law. They remained in the general currency pool throughout the reign of Severus Alexander and well into the middle of the third century AD, when the mass reintroduction of the radiate double denarius under the Decii and Valerian finally drove early Severan single denarii out of everyday market circulation.

References

1. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, Vol. V: Pertinax to Elagabalus. pp. 562-564
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 108. ric.4.el.108
4. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Vol. IV, Part II: Macrinus to Pupienus. p. 35, no. 108
5. Le monnayage d'Elagabale (218-222). Brussels, 1968