Elagabalus Silver Denarius RIC IV Elagabalus 48

Monetary Context and Religious Ideology

The monetary system of the Severan dynasty underwent considerable institutional strain leading up to AD 221. Following the fiscal reforms and debasements inaugurated under Septimius Severus and continued by Caracalla, the silver denarius operated at a significantly lowered fineness, generally ranging between 40% and 46% silver. Although Caracalla had introduced the double denarius or antoninianus around AD 215, regular production of the traditional denarius remained the economic backbone of military distributions and everyday administrative transactions under Elagabalus. Denarii of AD 221 reflect the direct subordination of metropolitan administrative norms to the religious revolution championed by the imperial court. By elevating the Emesene solar deity Elagabal to the head of the Roman pantheon, the emperor fundamentally altered the conceptual program of imperial coinage. Unlike conservative Severan issues celebrating dynastic concord or traditional Olympian deities, denarii categorized under RIC IV Elagabalus 48 placed foreign sacerdotal ritual at the center of the state medium of exchange.

Mint Production and Metrology

RIC IV Elagabalus 48 was produced exclusively at the imperial mint in Rome. Die preparation was executed by the central imperial officinae operating in the capital, which were tasked with rendering complex sacerdotal drapery, fine imperial features, and ritual paraphernalia within the compact circular field of the denarius flan. In accordance with early third-century metropolitan standards, the theoretical target weight for denarii of this period hovered around 3.0 to 3.2 grams, though individual flans frequently diverged due to al marco manufacturing methods, in which a set number of coins was struck from a given ingot weight. Metrological analyses of Severan silver demonstrate a continuing degradation of trace alloy control, resulting in irregular planchet edges and variable die axes. The engraving style of the Rome mint in AD 221 remains distinguishable from contemporary Eastern provincial or subsidiary strikes by its delicate lettering, neat beaded borders, and balanced spatial arrangement of the flanking standards and reverse figure.

Obverse Iconography and the Horn Attribute

The obverse design of RIC IV Elagabalus 48 features the right-facing bust of Elagabalus, laureate and draped, distinguished by the addition of a frontal horn attribute. This curious element, appearing on imperial portraiture late in the reign, has prompted prolonged debate in classical numismatics. Early cataloguers occasionally interpreted the protrusion as a dried bull phallus symbolizing raw fecundity, but modern scholarship overwhelmingly regards it as a ritual horn, a divine symbol of Syrian sacerdotal and kingly prestige derived from Emesene and Levantine religious traditions. The imperial head displays a youthful countenance framed by short curls, enveloped by the laurel wreath of victory and Roman magistracy. The drapery across the shoulder and bust reflects standard Roman military or civil attire, creating an overt iconographic hybrid between familiar imperial portrait formulas and radical Near Eastern religious insignia.

Reverse Iconography and Sacerdotal Attributes

The reverse of RIC IV Elagabalus 48 presents a dense ritual tableau depicting Elagabalus as active high priest. The emperor stands facing left, clad in long Syrian priestly robes (subtemina or priestly chiton) characterized by folds extending toward the ankles. In his right hand, he holds a patera, extending it over a low, lighted tripod altar to pour a libation. In his left hand, he cradles an upright branch, customarily identified in numismatic literature as a cypress branch, an emblem intimately connected with solar worship and Near Eastern ritual purification. Flanking the sacrificial scene are two military standards (signa), planted upright on the groundline. Above the altar in the upper left field rests an eight-rayed or six-rayed star, a celestial insignia denoting the solar divinity Elagabal. The integration of military standards into an explicit sacrificial scene reflects a strategic ideological synthesis, reassuring the legions that their ritual obligations and loyalty to the high priest emperor remained indivisible.

Epigraphy and Titulature

The legends on both faces of the coin conform to strict administrative formulas while framing the radical imagery. The obverse legend reads IMP ANTONINVS PIVS AVG, an abbreviation of Imperator Antoninus Pius Augustus. This nomenclature served to reinforce the emperor's manufactured legal descent from Caracalla and Marcus Aurelius, anchoring his legitimacy in the prestigious Antonine heritage. On the reverse, the legend reads P M TR P IIII COS III P P, standing for Pontifex Maximus, Tribunicia Potestate IIII, Consul III, Pater Patriae. The reverse inscription provides the absolute chronological anchor for the issue: the fourth annual renewal of Elagabalus's tribunician power alongside his third consulship fixes the date securely to AD 221. The claim to Pontifex Maximus confirms that, despite the elevation of the Emesene god above Jupiter Optimus Maximus, the formal supreme priesthood of the traditional Roman state religion remained an integral legal pillar of imperial authority.

Typological Classification and Chronological Placement

Within the typology established by Harold Mattingly and Edward A. Sydenham in Roman Imperial Coinage Volume IV Part II, type 48 occupies an exact chronological and thematic horizon within the emissions of AD 221. It is closely related to RIC IV Elagabalus 46 and 47, which share identical reverse inscriptions but exhibit minor iconographic permutations, such as the absence of the horn or the omission of one or both military standards. Die studies of Severan silver demonstrate that the horned portrait was introduced during the course of AD 221 and continued into AD 222 (TR P V). RIC IV 48 represents the mature articulation of this type, where the horn, the star, the Emesene priestly robe, the sacrificial altar, and the dual military standards coalesce in a single programmatic composition before the dynastic crisis of early AD 222 culminated in the emperor's assassination.

Circulation, Hoard Evidence, and Survival

Denarii of type RIC IV Elagabalus 48 circulated throughout the provinces and frontiers alongside a vast heterogeneous mass of Antonine and Severan silver. Hoard evidence from across the western provinces, including Roman Britain and the Rhine-Danube limes, indicates that debased Severan denarii remained in active commercial circulation well into the mid-third century until the mass inflations of the AD 250s and 260s drove them into hoards. Because Elagabalus suffered official damnatio memoriae following his murder in March AD 222, statues and monumental inscriptions were aggressively destroyed; however, silver currency bearing his name and sacerdotal image was not systematically demonetized. The economic demand for circulating specie precluded melting down functional coin issues, ensuring the survival of type 48 in significant numbers across European and Mediterranean archaeological contexts.

References

1. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, Vol. V: Pertinax to Elagabalus. pp. 562-563
2. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC IV Elagabalus 48. ric.4.el.48
3. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Vol. IV, Part II: Macrinus to Pupienus. pp. 31, no. 48