Julia Maesa Silver Denarius, RIC IV Elagabalus 268

Monetary and Political Context

The monetary system under Elagabalus inherited both the heavy fiscal burdens and the debased silver standards established during the reigns of Septimius Severus and Caracalla. Following the brief usurpation of Macrinus, the Severan dynasty was re-established through the influence and vast wealth of Julia Maesa, the sister of Julia Domna. Recognizing the necessity of consolidating dynastic legitimacy in the public eye, imperial authorities made extensive use of coin portraits honoring the royal women. The denarius, although supplemented since AD 215 by the double-denarius or antoninianus, remained the primary silver denomination for everyday market exchange, military stipends, and administrative disbursements. In this environment, striking coinage for Julia Maesa was not an honorary gesture of secondary importance but a primary instrument of dynastic policy. The depiction of Pudicitia on RIC IV Elagabalus 268 deliberately invoked ancestral Roman standards of female decorum and moral rectitude, serving as an ideological counterbalance to the controversial religious and personal conduct associated with the teenage emperor in Rome.

Production Standards and Mint Attribution

RIC IV Elagabalus 268 was produced at the central imperial mint in Rome, which operated multiple administrative officinae responsible for striking issues across the imperial household. While concurrent eastern coinages were struck at Antioch and occasionally auxiliary provincial centres during the Severan period, stylistic and die analyses firmly identify the fine, disciplined engraving of this specific reverse type with the primary Roman urban workshops. Metallurgically, the issue reflects the typical standards of the late Severan denarius, which possessed a silver fineness hovering between approximately forty-three and fifty percent, alloyed predominantly with copper. The nominal weight standard targeted approximately 3.1 to 3.3 grams, though surviving unclipped and unmounted specimens frequently range from 2.6 to 3.5 grams due to loose tolerances in contemporary flan preparation. Flans were cast as circular blanks before being struck between engraved iron dies with manual sledgehammers, typically yielding an axis orientation predominantly close to six or twelve o'clock.

Obverse Iconography and Portraiture

The obverse of RIC IV Elagabalus 268 is dedicated entirely to Julia Maesa, presenting a right-facing bust that emphasizes her maturity, dignity, and elevated status. Unlike the youthful and heavily stylized coiffures adopted by younger Severan empresses such as Julia Soaemias and Julia Paula, Maesa is represented with a sober, stately hairstyle. The hair is parted in the middle, dressed in broad, horizontal waves across the crown, and gathered at the back, where it is folded upward in a broad, flat plait secured low at the nape. The portrait features realistic facial modelling, capturing her mature age through slight hollows in the cheek and a firm, set jaw. Her shoulders and chest are neatly draped in a traditional mantle (palla) and tunic (stola), reinforcing her role as a venerable Roman matron. The composition balances realism with imperial gravity, ensuring instant recognition across the provinces of the empire.

Reverse Iconography and Symbolism

The reverse iconography centers on Pudicitia, the divine personification of modesty, chastity, and fidelity, who had served as a standard protector of imperial women since the early second century AD. In this type, Pudicitia is shown seated facing left on a throne or stool without an ornate back. Draped in voluminous, flowing garments that conceal her form, she engages in the traditional ritual gesture of pudor: raising her right hand toward her face to draw the bridal or matronly veil over her features. In her left hand, she holds a long sceptre diagonally across her body, a standard attribute symbolizing divine protection, imperial authority, and regal dignity. The motif had long been employed on the coinages of imperial empresses, including Plotina, Sabina, Faustina the Younger, and Julia Domna, symbolizing the moral purity of the imperial household and its adherence to the ancient mos maiorum.

Epigraphy and Legends

The epigraphy of RIC IV Elagabalus 268 is clear, elegant, and concise, adhering to the standard lettering conventions of the Severan mint of Rome. The obverse legend reads IVLIA MAESA AVG, an abbreviated form of 'Julia Maesa Augusta'. This formula omits patronymics and complex titles, focusing exclusively on her personal name and the supreme honorific title of Augusta, which granted her constitutional and ceremonial equality with earlier empresses. The inscription begins low on the left periphery and runs clockwise around the portrait. The reverse carries the single nominative legend PVDICITIA, identifying the seated virtue. The letters are neatly proportioned with refined serifs. Die cutters occasionally introduced minor variations in letter spacing or punctuation breaks depending on the spacing around the head of Pudicitia and her raised veil, but the reading remains uniform across all authenticated dies.

Typology and Chronological Classification

In the standard typological scheme established by Mattingly and Sydenham in The Roman Imperial Coinage, this issue is designated as RIC IV Elagabalus 268 and corresponds to Cohen 36 and BMC 76. It forms part of an extensive suite of denarii issued for Julia Maesa at Rome throughout the four years of Elagabalus's reign, alongside other personifications such as Felicitas (holding a caduceus or patera), Fecunditas, and Juno. Within the Pudicitia series for Maesa, numismatists distinguish between two distinct design arrangements: the seated type represented by RIC 268 and a standing variety where Pudicitia stands left lifting her veil and holding a sceptre (RIC 267). Because the legend IVLIA MAESA AVG remained unvaried throughout the period and lacks explicit tribunician or consular numbers, dating RIC 268 to narrower intervals within AD 218 to 222 depends on portrait progression and die-linking studies, though the issue appears to have been produced continuously throughout the reign.

Circulation, Hoards, and Wear Patterns

Denarii of Julia Maesa circulated widely across the Roman world, enjoying extensive dispersion along imperial trade arteries and military frontier zones. Specimens of RIC 268 frequently appear in major third-century hoards discovered in Britannia, Gaul, the Rhine frontier, and the Danubian provinces, including substantial deposits such as the Shapwick and Dorchester hoards. Because these coins possessed a silver content comparable to the contemporary issues of Caracalla and Elagabalus, they circulated side by side with earlier Severan silver for decades. Many specimens exhibit moderate to heavy wear, indicating that they remained in commercial circulation well into the mid-third century until the hyperinflationary debasements under Gallienus and Claudius Gothicus drove earlier Severan denarii entirely out of active use or into hoarding pots.

References

1. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, Vol. V: Pertinax to Elagabalus. p. 541, no. 76
2. Description historique des monnaies frappees sous l'Empire romain, Tome IV. p. 394, no. 36
3. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC IV Elagabalus 268. RIC IV Elagabalus 268
4. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Vol. IV, Part II: Macrinus to Pupienus. p. 50, no. 268