Julia Maesa Silver Denarius RIC IV Elagabalus 254

Monetary and Dynastic Context

The reign of Elagabalus (AD 218 to 222) marked the restoration of the Severan lineage to imperial power following the brief interlude of Macrinus. At the core of this restoration was Julia Maesa, sister of Empress Julia Domna and grandmother to both Varius Avitus Bassianus (Elagabalus) and Gessius Bassianus Alexianus (Severus Alexander). Upon the accession of Elagabalus in Syria and his subsequent arrival in Rome in AD 219, substantial coinages were produced at the central mint to project dynastic stability, traditional religious devotion, and administrative continuity. Silver denarii issued for the imperial women held significant political importance. While Elagabalus himself engaged in radical religious reforms surrounding the cult of Elagabal, the coinage produced for the Augustae, particularly Julia Maesa and Julia Soaemias, maintained strict fidelity to traditional Roman deities. Denarius type RIC IV Elagabalus 254 invokes Juno, the premier patroness of Roman matrons, female virtue, and imperial sovereignty. In the complex financial apparatus of the third-century empire, silver denarii of this standard formed the primary vehicle for urban distributions, bureaucratic salaries, and provincial transactions, even as military disbursements increasingly relied upon the double denarius or antoninianus.

Production Standards and Mint Attribution

RIC IV Elagabalus 254 is securely attributed to the imperial mint at Rome. While an eastern branch mint operated temporarily in Antioch and possibly other Levantine centers during the early stages of the reign in AD 218 and 219, stylistic and metallurgical analyses demonstrate that this specific Juno type was an exclusive product of the primary urban mint in Rome. The Roman mint operated organized workshops (officinae), which handled concurrent production for the emperor, his wives, and his maternal relatives. In terms of physical manufacture, this issue conforms to the debased Severan weight and fineness standards stabilized under Caracalla and maintained through Elagabalus. Denarii of this period were struck with an intended weight centering around 3.1 grams, typically falling within a distribution range of 2.7 to 3.5 grams depending on planchet preparation and wear. Metallurgical investigations of Severan silver indicate an average silver fineness hovering between 40 and 46 percent, balanced primarily with copper. Dies were engraved in the refined metropolitan style characterized by well-proportioned relief, distinct drapery folds, and clear, regular lettering.

Obverse Iconography and Imperial Image

The obverse of RIC IV Elagabalus 254 features a right-facing bust of Julia Maesa. The portrait represents her in the mature, dignified manner customary for Severan matriarchs, carefully avoiding idealization in favor of identifiable features that conveyed authority, maturity, and continuity with the legacy of Julia Domna. Her head is bare, without diadem or veil, emphasizing her civil status as Augusta rather than an overt assimilation to a divinity on the principal portrait face. The coiffure on this type is a diagnostic element of third-century Severan female numismatic portraiture. Maesa's hair is arranged in broad, horizontal waves across the crown of the head, drawn backward, and gathered into a wide, flat plait or bun turned up low at the nape of the neck. This hairstyle reflects an evolution from the elaborate, stepped coiffures of the Antonine and early Severan periods toward a more structured, restrained palace fashion. The drapery across her shoulders is rendered with layered horizontal folds, pinned neatly at the shoulder in classic Roman aristocratic fashion.

Reverse Typology and Religious Allegory

The reverse of the coin presents Juno Regina, the supreme goddess of the Capitoline Triad and the divine protectress of women and childbirth. Juno is depicted standing with her torso oriented slightly toward the left in a standard contrapposto stance. She wears a long, flowing stola and palla that envelops her lower body and cascades from her shoulders. Her head is adorned with a veil, denoting her sacred role as a matronly and sacrificial divinity. In her extended right hand, Juno holds a patera, a shallow ritual dish utilized in public sacrifices and private libations, symbolizing active piety and reciprocal favor between the imperial house and the gods. In her left hand, she holds a long, vertical sceptre resting on the groundline, which represents her supreme celestial authority and her role as queen of the gods. The composition is austere and devoid of secondary attributes such as the peacock, which frequently accompanies Juno on other Severan types, thus focusing visual attention entirely on the ritual instruments of religious and imperial sovereignty.

Inscriptions and Epigraphy

The inscriptions on RIC IV Elagabalus 254 are concise, following established epigraphic conventions for imperial women who did not hold magistracies or military commands. The obverse legend reads IVLIA MAESA AVG, an abbreviation of Julia Maesa Augusta. The title Augusta, conferred upon her shortly after Elagabalus took the purple, formally elevated her into the imperial college, granting her supreme female honorific standing, sacrosanctity, and the authority to appear on state coinages. The reverse legend consists of the single nominative divine name IVNO. This unadorned invocation identifies the figure directly with Juno, foregoing the additional epithets Regina, Conservatrix, or Lucina that appear on other contemporary issues. The lettering on both faces exhibits the standard Roman capitals of the Severan urban mint, with sharp, serifed terminals and balanced spacing around the peripheral beaded borders, reinforcing the formal classicism of the metropolitan die-cutters.

Typological Classification and Chronological Placement

Under the Roman Imperial Coinage framework, this issue is catalogued as RIC IV (part 2) Elagabalus 254. In the British Museum catalogue, it corresponds to BMCRE V, p. 540, no. 67. The issue belongs to the general emission of silver struck for Julia Maesa between AD 218 and 222, spanning the entirety of Elagabalus's reign in Rome. Because the legends for the Augustae did not record annual tribunician powers or consulships, dating within this four-year span relies on hoard evidence, die links, and stylistic affinities with dated issues of Elagabalus. Numismatic scholarship generally places the IVNO type with standing Juno holding patera and sceptre among the early to mid-reign issues at Rome, likely beginning around AD 219 when the imperial court arrived from the East. It was issued alongside related reverse types dedicated to Pudicitia, Pietas, and Felicitas. Minor engraving variations exist across different dies, notably in the width of Maesa's bun, the density of hair waves, and whether Juno holds the sceptre strictly vertically or slightly inclined, but all conform strictly to the single canonical type description defined in RIC.

Circulation, Hoard Evidence, and Monetary Impact

Denarii of Julia Maesa struck at Rome circulated widely across the Roman world, integrating seamlessly into the vast pool of early third-century silver currency. Hoard data from the northwestern provinces, including Roman Britain, Gaul, and the Germanies, as well as the Danubian frontier and Italy, demonstrate that Severan denarii remained in active circulation for decades after their emission. They circulated alongside earlier Antonine silver as well as subsequent issues of Severus Alexander. Because the silver content of denarii struck under Elagabalus matched the standards set by Septimius Severus and Caracalla, they were not selectively culled or melted down at higher rates than adjacent issues under Gresham's Law dynamics. Specimens of RIC IV Elagabalus 254 appear regularly in large third-century savings and military hoards, frequently displaying moderate to substantial surface wear consistent with prolonged velocity in daily retail and institutional trade before concealment during the political crises of the mid-third century.

References

1. The Metallurgy of Roman Silver Coinage: From the Reform of Nero to the Reform of Trajan Decius. pp. 588-605
2. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, Volume V: Pertinax to Elagabalus. p. 540, no. 67
3. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC IV Elagabalus 254. ric.4.el.254
4. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Volume IV, Part II: Macrinus to Pupienus. p. 60, no. 254