Elagabalus Silver Denarius RIC IV Elagabalus 135

Monetary Context and Denominational Setting

During the reign of Elagabalus (AD 218-222), the silver denarius remained the financial backbone of Roman imperial expenditure, particularly for sustaining military salaries, administrative distribution, and public distributions within the capital. Under the Severan dynasty, however, the denomination had undergone significant economic strain. Septimius Severus substantially debased the denarius in AD 194 to approximately fifty percent silver, and Caracalla introduced the double denarius or antoninianus around AD 215 to adjust imperial accounting. Under Elagabalus, both the denarius and the antoninianus were initially struck side by side, but the production of the antoninianus ceased entirely around AD 219. Consequently, the standard denarius resumed its role as the almost exclusive silver denomination produced by the Rome mint for the remainder of the reign. Denarii of this period typically operated on a theoretical standard struck at roughly ninety-six to ninety-nine to the Roman pound, resulting in an average weight between 3.0 and 3.3 grams, though metallurgical analyses reveal considerable variance and a silver content fluctuating near forty to forty-five percent. In this monetary environment, RIC IV Elagabalus 135 was struck not merely as routine currency, but as an active ideological vehicle carrying urgent imperial propaganda to troops and civil populations accustomed to traditional Roman religious themes.

Production and Mint Attribution

The manufacture of RIC IV Elagabalus 135 is securely assigned to the imperial mint at Rome. While provincial and branch mints in the East, such as Antioch and possibly Nicomedia, supplied significant coinages during the earliest phases of Elagabalus's journey from Syria to the capital between AD 218 and 219, the major series celebrating his solar priesthood were organized and struck in the imperial center itself. The stylistic characteristics of the dies for RIC IV Elagabalus 135 exhibit the refined die-engraving technique characteristic of the primary Roman officinae. Letterforms are crisp and regular, and the treatment of imperial drapery shows the characteristic fluid cutting of the urban establishment. Roman mint administration under the rationalis was divided among several working officinae, and metallurgical studies show that the Rome mint maintained strict batch controls over alloy composition, even while using debased bullion. The issue was manufactured through hand-hammering, with hot circular planchets struck between an engraved obverse lower die embedded in an anvil and a reverse upper die held by a coiner, resulting in typical die axes aligned at either twelve o'clock or six o'clock.

Obverse Iconography and Variations

The obverse of RIC IV Elagabalus 135 presents an imperial bust directed to the left, which represents a striking departure from the standard right-facing portraiture that dominated imperial silver issues. The emperor is shown youthful and beardless, wearing the triumphal laurel wreath tied at the nape of the neck with fluttering ribbons, and dressed in classical drapery (paludamentum) gathered at the shoulder. Left-facing portraits on Severan denarii were deliberately selective, often reserved for specific special emissions, donatives, or commemorative cycles designed to catch the eye of recipients through their directional variation. The engraving highlights the soft facial features of the teenage emperor, balancing the idealized imperial profile with recognizable dynasty-defining elements inherited from Caracalla, whom Elagabalus was officially claimed to have fathered. Die studies indicate that left-facing dies for this reverse legend were cut in far fewer numbers than the standard right-facing varieties catalogued as RIC IV 131 through 134, making this portrait variant a distinct numismatic phenomenon within the priestly coinage.

Reverse Iconography and Religious Symbolism

The reverse iconography of RIC IV Elagabalus 135 encapsulates the core theological agenda of Elagabalus's brief rule. The composition depicts the emperor standing turned to the right, engaged in sacrificial ritual. He is attired not in the classical Roman toga worn by earlier emperors sacrificing as Pontifex Maximus, but in long Syrian priestly robes (subtemina or ornate sacerdotal vestments) with flowing sleeves and ornamental hemlines that scandalized contemporary Roman observers such as Cassius Dio and Herodian. In his right hand, the emperor extends a patera to pour a libation over a lighted, garlanded altar situated on the ground before him. In his left hand, he holds an upright vertical implement, traditionally described in numismatic literature as a club, a cypress branch, or an exotic ceremonial sceptre associated with Syrian rites. An eight-pointed or radiant star appears in the right field above or beside the altar, functioning as the explicit celestial emblem of the Sun God Elagabal and emphasizing divine supervision over the earthly ceremony.

Inscriptions and Epigraphic Analysis

The epigraphy of RIC IV Elagabalus 135 illustrates the delicate tension between Severan dynastic continuity and radical religious innovation. The obverse legend reads IMP ANTONINVS PIVS AVG (Imperator Antoninus Pius Augustus). This formal titulature completely omits the emperor's birth name of Varius Avitus Bassianus, deploying instead the prestigious Antonine moniker that had been adopted by Caracalla to guarantee legitimacy among the legions and the populace. The reverse legend, reading SACERD DEI SOLIS ELAGAB (Sacerdos Dei Solis Elagabali, meaning Priest of the Sun God Elagabalus), represents an unprecedented development in Roman imperial coinage. For over two centuries, Roman emperors had advertised their chief domestic religious office through the standard title Pontifex Maximus. Here, Elagabalus openly subordinated the supreme pontificate to an explicitly named foreign deity. The epigraphic execution is compact and fully circumferential, carefully broken around the head and staff of the sacrificing figure, reflecting standard Roman epigraphic traditions adapted to bold new theological vocabulary.

Typology and Chronological Placement

Within the typology of the fourth volume of Roman Imperial Coinage, RIC IV Elagabalus 135 sits within the specialized series of coins commemorating the priesthood of the Sun God. While the overarching catalogue scope for the reign covers AD 218 to 222, historical and numismatic analysis narrows the production of the SACERD DEI SOLIS ELAGAB series to approximately AD 221 and 222. The installation of the black stone of Emesa in the newly constructed Elagabalium on the Palatine Hill occurred around AD 220 to 221, followed by the emperor's assumption of the title Sacerdos Amplissimus Dei Invicti Solis Elagabali. The type is closely affiliated with related denarii bearing the reverse legends SVMMVS SACERDOS AVG and INVICTVS SACERDOS AVG, as well as the right-facing counterpart RIC IV 131. The distinctive left-facing bust of RIC IV 135 marks it as a specific, deliberately produced die pairing, rather than an accidental mint aberration. Production of the type terminated abruptly upon the assassination of Elagabalus in March of AD 222, after which all priestly issues of this character were discontinued.

Circulation, Hoards, and Survival

Denarii of the SACERD DEI SOLIS ELAGAB type entered active circulation across the empire alongside the massive volume of currency issued under Septimius Severus and Caracalla. Archaeological and numismatic evidence from major third-century hoards across Britain, the Rhine-Danube frontier, and the eastern provinces demonstrates that coins of Elagabalus circulated freely without selective withdrawal. Despite the formal damnatio memoriae decreed by the Senate following his death, the imperial government made no systematic effort to recall or melt down his billon and silver currency, as the state could ill afford to shrink the active money supply during a time of chronic military expenditure. Nevertheless, specimens of RIC IV Elagabalus 135 survive in significantly smaller numbers than his standard right-facing issues or common administrative types such as FIDES EXERCITVS and VICTORIA AVG. Extant examples frequently show moderate to heavy wear consistent with circulation well into the mid-third century, when older Severan silver was eventually subsumed by the massive debasements under the barracks emperors.

References

1. The Metallurgy of Roman Silver Coinage: From the Reform of Nero to the Reform of Trajan Decius. pp. 583-610
2. Coining Images of Power: Patterns in the Representation of Roman Emperors on Imperial Coinage, A.D. 193-284. pp. 147-158
3. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, Vol. V: Pertinax to Elagabalus. pp. 560-575
4. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC IV Elagabalus 135. ric.4.el.135
5. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Vol. IV, Part II: Macrinus to Pupienus. p. 39, no. 135
6. Mutilation and Transformation: Damnatio Memoriae and Roman Imperial Portraiture. pp. 185-195