Elagabalus Silver Denarius, RIC IV Elagabalus 201d

Monetary Context and Imperial Policy

The emission of eastern denarii during the reign of Elagabalus between 218 and 222 AD directly reflects the logistical demands of early Severan dynastic consolidation. Following the defeat of the usurper Macrinus near Antioch in June 218 AD, the newly acclaimed fourteen-year-old emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, popularly remembered as Elagabalus, remained in Syria and Asia Minor for over a year before making his formal arrival in Rome in the summer of 219 AD. During this extended eastern residency, the imperial court relied heavily on regional mint operations to satisfy the substantial financial obligations owed to the eastern legions and administrative retinue. Silver denarii produced in Syria, categorized under RIC IV Elagabalus 201d, functioned as full legal tender alongside the traditional provincial tetradrachms struck concurrently at Antioch and other Syrian civic mints. Although the denarius had historically been dominated by the central mint in Rome, periods of civil disturbance and military mobilization repeatedly forced the activation of eastern branch mints. Under Elagabalus, imperial silver retained the reduced fineness that characterized the post-Caracallan monetary framework, with denarii containing approximately forty to forty-six percent silver by weight, reflecting the severe systemic inflation and logistical pressure borne by the imperial treasury.

Production Techniques and Mint Attribution

The attribution of RIC IV Elagabalus 201d to Antioch in Syria rests primarily on stylistic, hoard, and epigraphic criteria first comprehensively organized in Roman Imperial Coinage and refined by later twentieth-century numismatists. While the central mint in Rome produced the overwhelming bulk of imperial coinage, the Antioch workshop exhibited unique manufacturing traits. Dies for this eastern series were carved with distinctly sharper, more graphic lines than Rome's more plastic, rounded relief carving. Portrait dies present a prominent imperial profile, large elongated eyes, and tightly curled hair rendered in rigid rows, while the reverse figures display angular limb postures and thin, schematic drapery folds. Blank preparation in Syria often resulted in compact flans with moderately irregular edges and slightly broader thickness compared to contemporary western emissions. Numismatic debate has persisted regarding whether all eastern denarii of Elagabalus were struck at Antioch itself or whether supplementary workshops operated at Emesa, the hereditary home of Elagabalus's maternal family, or as mobile comitatensian facilities traveling with the imperial court. Kevin Butcher and other regional specialists have observed that the strong stylistic congruence between these denarii and the voluminous Syrian provincial tetradrachms points decisively toward an established urban mint facility situated at Antioch.

Obverse Portrait and Imperial Iconography

The obverse of RIC IV Elagabalus 201d presents a bust of the juvenile emperor facing right, specified in the catalogue system as variant d: laureate, draped, and cuirassed. The imperial bust illustrates the complex political iconography used to present the young sovereign to the provincial populace and military commanders. The laurel wreath, tied behind the head with projecting ribbons, serves as the ancient emblem of martial triumph and civil authority, while the combined paludamentum (drapery) and metallic cuirass project his identity as supreme commander of the Roman armed forces. Die carvers at the eastern mint captured the facial contours of early adolescence, showing full cheeks and an undeveloped jaw, while simultaneously applying the formal imperial convention of the Severan house. The drapery across the shoulders is executed with deeply grooved parallel folds over the breastplate, creating strong shadow contrast under glancing light. Die study of eastern denarii reveals that portraiture matured slightly over the course of the issue, beginning with very youthful features in 218 AD and gradually adopting subtly heavier features and faint sideburns by 221 to 222 AD, although conventional idealized carving remained standard throughout the production run.

Reverse Typology and Allegorical Meaning

The reverse of RIC IV Elagabalus 201d depicts the personification Felicitas standing draped facing left, holding a patera in her outstretched right hand and supporting an upright cornucopiae in her left arm. In Roman public religion and imperial ideology, Felicitas embodied divine favor, blessed fruitfulness, and the pervasive well-being of the Roman commonwealth under imperial guardianship. The patera, a shallow sacrificial libation bowl, emphasizes the emperor's pious maintenance of the pax deorum (peace with the gods), assuring that state sacrifices continued to secure celestial approval. The cornucopiae, brimming with agricultural produce and fruits, reinforces the theme of domestic plenty, economic stability, and commercial flourishing. The composition adheres to established Severan numismatic models but displays the characteristic eastern engraving style, in which Felicitas is presented with a relatively slender torso, elongated arms, and tightly clustered vertical drapery folds. By invoking the blessed state of the empire through this visual motif, the Severan dynastic faction sought to assure military and civilian audiences that the turbulent transition of power from Macrinus had ushered in a divinely sanctioned epoch of peace and prosperity.

Epigraphy and Legend Variations

The inscriptions on RIC IV Elagabalus 201d conform to official imperial titulature while reflecting the specialized orthography and die-cutting habits of the eastern provinces. The obverse legend reads ANTONINVS PIVS FEL AVG (Antoninus Pius Felix Augustus), struck continuously around the flan perimeter starting from the lower left. This formula deliberately omitted the family name Varius Avitus Bassianus in favor of Antoninus, asserting direct patrilineal descent from Caracalla (Marcus Aurelius Antoninus) and the prestigious Antonine golden age. The titles Pius (dutiful) and Felix (fortunate) were quintessential Severan imperial epithets symbolizing religious devotion and divine luck. The reverse legend carries the concise dedicatory phrase TEMPORVM FEL, representing an abbreviation of Temporum Felicitas (the happiness of the times). Epigraphically, eastern mint letterforms are notable for their sharp, wedge-shaped serifs, open letter P, and elongated vertical strokes in the letters E and F, contrasting noticeably with the squarer, more uniform lettering generated by Rome die sinkers. Minor variations in letter spacing, hyphenation around the imperial head, and alignment relative to the exergual line occur frequently across known die pairings without altering the fundamental catalogue designation.

Typology, Die Variations, and Chronological Placement

Within the fourth volume of The Roman Imperial Coinage, the denarii of Elagabalus struck in the East are systematically catalogued under the Antioch mint section, where entry number 201 covers the TEMPORVM FEL reverse type holding patera and cornucopiae. The catalogue distinguishes bust formats by lowercase letter suffixes: 201a designates a bare-headed bust, 201b a laureate draped bust without cuirass, 201c a laureate cuirassed bust without drapery, and 201d explicitly designates the laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust facing right. Chronologically, this emission falls between 218 and 222 AD, covering the entirety of the reign, though modern scholarship suggests the majority of eastern denarii bearing undated obverse titles were produced between late 218 and late 220 AD, after which eastern denarius production subsided as mint operations centralized more firmly back at the capital. Die linking studies of eastern silver have demonstrated that reverse dies bearing the TEMPORVM FEL legend were occasionally shared with other obverse portraits or paired with obverses showing minor titulature anomalies, illustrating an intensive, rapid minting environment during the initial phase of Elagabalus's consolidation of power.

Circulation Patterns, Metrology, and Hoard Evidence

As an official imperial denarius, RIC IV Elagabalus 201d circulated throughout the Roman provinces alongside earlier Severan, Antonine, and Flavian silver coins. Metrologically, denarii of this issue typically weigh between 2.70 and 3.40 grams with an average diameter ranging between 18 and 20 millimeters, aligning directly with the imperial weight standard prevailing at the mint of Rome. In Syria, Phoenicia, and Mesopotamia, these denarii circulated concurrently with high-denomination base-silver provincial tetradrachms, providing the fractional liquidity necessary for everyday market transactions, administrative fees, and troop payments. Hoard evidence from across the Roman Empire underscores the widespread mobility of imperial silver. Specimens struck at Antioch regularly appear in hoards recovered not only in the Near East and Levant but also throughout the Danubian frontier, Roman Gaul, and Britannia, demonstrating that coin shipments accompanied military redeployments from the eastern provinces to western garrisons. Wear patterns across surviving specimens range from virtually uncirculated coins, likely buried during the early campaigns of Severus Alexander, to heavily abraded pieces that remained in circulation until the severe debasements and monetary reforms of the mid-third century AD.

References

1. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, Vol. V: Pertinax to Elagabalus. pp. 582-585
2. Coinage in Roman Syria: Northern Syria, 64 BC - AD 253. pp. 95-103
3. Online Coins of the Roman Empire (OCRE): RIC IV Elagabalus 201d. ric.4.el.201d
4. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Vol. IV, Part II: Macrinus to Pupienus. pp. 44-45, no. 201