Elagabalus Silver Denarius, RIC IV Elagabalus 125

Monetary Context and Denominational Setting

The emission of RIC IV Elagabalus 125 occurred within a monetary landscape shaped by the fiscal pressures of the late Severan era. The silver denarius had functioned as the backbone of imperial Roman coinage for more than four centuries, but the late second and early third centuries witnessed substantial adjustments in its metallic intrinsic value. Following the substantial debasement conducted under Septimius Severus in AD 194 and the introduction of the radiate antoninianus under Caracalla in AD 215, the Roman treasury increasingly balanced mass production against silver availability. During the reign of Elagabalus, the production of the antoninianus declined sharply at the central mint, and the traditional denarius was reasserted as the primary vehicle for silver payments. By the opening years of the third century, the silver content of the denarius had fallen to approximately 40 to 45 percent, with copper constituting the majority of the remaining alloy. Metallurgical analyses of third-century coinage demonstrate that the official weight standard for the denarius under Elagabalus averaged between 3.0 and 3.2 grams, although individual surviving specimens often fluctuate outside these boundaries due to contemporary blank preparation methods and subsequent wear. The Pax Augusti issue was struck in high volumes to meet recurrent state expenditures, particularly the substantial cash subventions required by the imperial legions stationed throughout the Rhine, Danube, and eastern frontiers, as well as the urban grain supply and civic doles in Rome.

Production Technology and Mint Organization

RIC IV Elagabalus 125 was minted exclusively at the imperial mint located in Rome. While provincial silver mints such as Antioch also operated during this period to satisfy regional military and administrative expenditures in the East, the stylistic execution and fabric of this type adhere strictly to the established conventions of the capital's officinae. The Roman mint operated as an industrialized administrative structure with specialized staff, including flan preparers, die engravers (scalptores), and strikers (malleatores), organized into distinct workshops that handled consecutive issues of base and precious metals. Production followed standard hot-striking techniques. Cast silver flans of predetermined weight were heated and placed between an obverse die set firmly into an anvil and a reverse die held in a handheld punch. The striking alignment of third-century imperial denarii typically exhibits a near-vertical or near-inverted orientation, frequently adhering to six o'clock or twelve o'clock die axes. The high output demanded during the sole reign of Elagabalus required rapid die cutting, leading to minor variations in portrait modeling and letter shapes across different working dies, yet the standard typological parameters remained consistently regulated across the mint workshops responsible for this reverse design.

Obverse Iconography and Imperial Representation

The obverse of RIC IV Elagabalus 125 displays a right-facing bust of Elagabalus, who is portrayed laureate and draped. This representation follows the formal conventions of early Severan imperial portraiture, emphasizing continuity with Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (Caracalla), whose illegitimate paternity was claimed to validate the young ruler's elevation. The portrait captures the adolescent features of the emperor with rounded facial contours, short cropped hair, and the laurel wreath tied at the occiput with hanging ribbons. The drapery is depicted across the shoulders, rendered with sharp folds that reflect the classicizing aesthetic retained by the Rome mint's chief engravers. Unlike late-reign issues where Elagabalus occasionally appears with a horn or horn-like protrusion above the brow symbolizing his role as high priest of the Emesene sun-god Elagabal, RIC IV Elagabalus 125 presents the standard civic and military portraiture. This deliberate visual conservatism projected familiar imagery of institutional legitimacy, reassuring the Senate and traditional Roman elites through established visual codes rather than foreign religious innovations.

Reverse Iconography and Symbolism of Pax

The reverse iconography of RIC IV Elagabalus 125 features Pax, the divine personification of peace, advancing or walking to the left. She is draped in a flowing stola and holds an olive branch aloft in her right hand while cradling a long sceptre transversely or vertically in her left arm. The motif of Pax walking leftward, often termed Pax vegeta or active peace, was a time-honored Roman numismatic type previously employed under Vespasian, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and earlier Severan emperors. In Roman imperial ideology, Pax did not represent the mere absence of conflict, but rather the triumphant peace achieved through military dominion and divine favor. By advancing dynamically, Pax conveys the rapid dissemination of imperial tranquility throughout the provinces. The olive branch was the universal Mediterranean emblem of peaceful reconciliation and clemency, while the sceptre underscored the divine majesty and legitimate authority of the princeps in sustaining this tranquility. Placed upon the coinage of a ruler whose ascension arose from civil conflict against the short-lived regime of Macrinus, this reverse served an urgent propagandistic purpose, proclaiming an era of renewed stability, concord, and imperial protection under the restored Severan line.

Epigraphy and Legend Readings

The obverse inscription reads IMP ANTONINVS PIVS AVG, an abbreviated Latin formula expanding to 'Imperator Antoninus Pius Augustus'. The title Imperator opens the legend as a praenomen, signaling supreme military command. The adoption of 'Antoninus' directly linked the young ruler to Caracalla and the Antonine golden age, while 'Pius' emphasized dutiful devotion toward the gods, the state, and ancestral memory. The concluding 'Augustus' confirmed full constitutional and sovereign authority. This concise titular formula avoided dated offices such as the tribunicia potestas or consulship on the obverse, providing a durable legend suitable for prolonged minting phases. The reverse inscription is rendered as PAX AVGVSTI, translating as 'The Peace of the Augustus'. Unlike generalized invocations of public peace (Pax Publica) or universal concord (Pax Aeterna), Pax Augusti attributes the preservation of peace specifically to the personal virtue, fortune, and governance of the ruling emperor. The lettering on both faces exhibits the neat, seriffed capital forms characteristic of the Rome mint in the early third century, with standardized letter heights and well-balanced circular spacing framing the central iconographic devices.

Typology and Chronological Classification

Within the typology of the Roman Imperial Coinage, RIC IV Elagabalus 125 is classified as an undated silver denarius from the mint of Rome, broadly framed within the ruler's sole reign between AD 218 and 222. Because the legends omit explicit iterative markers such as numbered tribunician powers (TR P) or consulships (COS), numismatists rely on stylistic evolution and portrait progression to refine its chronological placement. Scholars generally assign issues bearing the undated obverse legend IMP ANTONINVS PIVS AVG without the sacerdotal horn to the intermediate and mature phases of the reign, primarily between AD 219 and 221. RIC IV Elagabalus 125 must be distinguished from related contemporary issues. A closely allied variety, catalogued separately in RIC, depicts Pax walking left holding an olive branch and a cornucopia rather than a sceptre, or shows her standing stationary. Furthermore, identical legends were struck concurrently on bronze denominations and occasional aurei, demonstrating that the Pax Augusti program operated as an integrated multi-denominational propaganda effort. In modern digital databases such as Online Coins of the Roman Empire (OCRE), RIC IV Elagabalus 125 remains the primary reference key for denarii matching this precise combination of legends, mint attribution, and attributes.

Circulation Patterns and Archaeological Evidence

Denarii of the RIC IV Elagabalus 125 type entered a wide and active circulation network that stretched from the northwestern frontier garrisons of Britannia and Germania down to the Danubian limes, North Africa, and the Levant. Hoard evidence from across the Roman world demonstrates that third-century denarii moved freely across regional borders, retained in circulation alongside older Severan, Antonine, and even Flavian silver pieces whose higher intrinsic silver content made them preferred stores of value. As monetary inflation accelerated later in the third century, particularly during the crisis of the 230s to 260s AD, silver denarii were progressively hoarded or withdrawn from daily use to be replaced by the heavily debased double denarius of Gordian III and his successors. Nevertheless, large mid-third-century coin hoards, such as the Shapwick and Dorchester deposits in Britain or the Eauze hoard in Gaul, consistently contain substantial representations of Elagabalus denarii, including Pax Augusti issues. The moderate to heavy wear observed on archaeological specimens found in domestic and frontier contexts confirms that RIC IV Elagabalus 125 saw prolonged commercial utility for decades following its initial striking.

References

1. The Metallurgy of Roman Silver Coinage: From the Reform of Nero to the Reform of Trajan and Beyond. pp. 597-610
2. Coining Images of Power: Patterns in the Representation of Roman Emperors on Imperial Coinage, A.D. 193-284. pp. 85-112
3. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC IV Elagabalus 125. ric.4.el.125
4. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Vol. IV, Part II: Macrinus to Pupienus. p. 39, no. 125
5. Under Divine Auspices: Divine Ideology and the Visualisation of Imperial Power in the Severan Period. pp. 165-198