Elagabalus Silver Denarius RIC IV Elagabalus 145b

Monetary Context and Imperial Policy

The monetary system inherited by Elagabalus upon his rise to power in AD 218 was centered upon the silver denarius alongside the double-denarius or antoninianus, which had been introduced under Caracalla in AD 215. While Caracalla and Macrinus struck substantial quantities of antoniniani, Elagabalus shifted the primary output of Rome's precious-metal minting back toward the traditional denarius. During his reign, the striking of antoniniani tapered off dramatically and ceased altogether in early Rome issues, leaving the denarius as the undisputed workhorse of imperial silver payments to the legions, administrative personnel, and urban populations. However, the economic foundations of this denomination were precarious. Decades of heavy military disbursements had compelled successive Severan administrations to reduce the intrinsic silver content of the coinage. Denarii struck under Elagabalus typically exhibited an average silver purity of approximately forty to forty-five percent, paired with a theoretical weight standard of roughly 3.1 to 3.2 grams. Although the state enforced circulation of these coins at face value, Gresham's Law and fiscal pressures prompted widespread hoarding of older, higher-purity silver issues. In this strained economic milieu, denarii such as RIC IV Elagabalus 145b served as primary instruments of official state propaganda, seeking to reaffirm faith in Severan stability despite underlying currency depreciation.

Production and Mint Organization

RIC IV Elagabalus 145b was produced entirely at the principal imperial mint situated in Rome. Following his proclamation in Syria and subsequent journey to Italy, administrative control over the central mint was thoroughly reorganized to celebrate the renewed Severan regime. The Rome mint operated through a system of coordinated workshops (officinae), each tasked with striking specific combinations of obverse and reverse dies to meet predetermined output quotas. Unlike the contemporary eastern issues struck at Antioch, which featured distinct local engraving styles and slightly varied letterforms, Rome issues exhibited refined imperial die-cutting techniques. Engravers at Rome adhered to strict canonical proportions: portraiture displayed crisp relief with detailed drapery folds, while reverses maintained balanced spatial composition. Blanks were cast in clay or bronze mold trees and subsequently adjusted by hand hammering before being struck between engraved iron or bronze dies. The reverse die was oriented generally within the normal Roman twelve o'clock or six o'clock rotational axes, though minor axis variations occurred naturally during high-volume manual striking. Die wear was tolerated to maximize bullion conversion, leading to specimens that range from sharp, early-state strikes to die-fatigued examples with soft lettering.

Obverse Iconography and Imperial Image

The obverse of RIC IV Elagabalus 145b features a right-facing bust of Elagabalus characterized specifically by the combination of a laurel wreath and draped shoulders without cuirass. This drapery arrangement distinguishes subtype 145b from 145a, which catalogues the bust with both drapery and a cuirass. The youthful portrait captures the emperor in the early years of his physical development, with soft facial features, a slightly curved nose, and short, curly hair bound beneath the laurel wreath with ties hanging down behind the neck. As an essential ideological mechanism, this portraiture closely recalled the iconography of his putative father, Caracalla (Marcus Aurelius Antoninus). By visually framing the young Syrian prince within the established physical vocabulary of the Antonine dynasty, the administration sought to legitimize his accession over the fallen Macrinus. The laurel wreath symbolizes victorious imperium, while the civilian mantle of the drapery underscores his role as civil magistrate and benefactor of the Roman people, balancing the more militaristic overtones seen on armored cuirassed variants.

Reverse Iconography of Securitas

The reverse of the type portrays Securitas, the divine personification of safety, imperial security, and freedom from danger. She is shown fully draped and seated facing right upon a high-backed throne or curule stool. Her right arm is raised, supporting her tilted head in a deliberate posture of nonchalance and calm relaxation, a well-established artistic convention indicating complete absence of anxiety or impending threat. In her left hand, which rests near her lap, she holds a vertical sceptre or long staff, denoting legitimate divine governance and majesty. The legend SECVRITAS SAECVLI surrounds the upper periphery of the composition. In Roman political theology, the invocation of Securitas Saeculi—the security of the age—functioned as a programmatic promise delivered by the emperor to the Roman populace and provincial citizens. At a time when the imperial court was marked by palace intrigue and cultural friction between traditional Roman senatorial customs and the eastern religious practices of the Emesene sun-god, this reverse design projected an image of reassuring normalcy, domestic quietude, and overarching imperial protection.

Epigraphy and Titulature

The inscriptions on RIC IV Elagabalus 145b are concise and follow traditional imperial formulations. The obverse legend reads IMP ANTONINVS PIVS AVG, moving continuously around the rim clockwise from the lower left. The opening title IMP (Imperator) claims supreme military command, while the name ANTONINVS directly asserts his legal adoption of Caracalla's official name, suppressing his birth name of Varius Avitus Bassianus. PIVS reflects the traditional Roman virtue of piety toward the gods and ancestors, and AVG (Augustus) completes the standard triumphal and imperial designation. This exact obverse formula was standard for Rome mint denarii struck during the middle portion of the reign. On the reverse, the legend SECVRITAS SAECVLI is rendered in clear, unpunctuated Latin capitals across the upper rim. The absence of tribunician power designations (Tribunicia Potestas) or consulship numbers (Consul) makes this issue nominally undated within the broader framework of the reign, relying instead on stylistic and administrative groupings for absolute dating.

Typology and Chronological Classification

Within the typology established by Harold Mattingly and Edward A. Sydenham in Roman Imperial Coinage, type 145 is divided primarily by bust drapery into 145a (laureate, draped, and cuirassed) and 145b (laureate and draped). The overarching issue belongs to the undated Rome mint series produced during the middle to later half of Elagabalus's reign, spanning approximately AD 219 to AD 222. Following his arrival in Rome in the summer of AD 219, the mint commenced an extensive output of personification types, including Securitas, Providentia, and Fides, which supplemented the dated tribunician series. The style of the bust on 145b, showing an older adolescent portrait than the initial AD 218 strikes, indicates production after the initial eastern campaigns had concluded. Die studies by numismatists demonstrate that the obverse dies for 145b were frequently shared with other reverse personifications, such as FIDES EXERCITVS and PROVID DEORVM, confirming that SECVRITAS SAECVLI was struck alongside contemporary military and divine pledges as part of an integrated monetary campaign.

Circulation, Hoard Evidence, and Loss

Silver denarii of Elagabalus, including RIC IV 145b, circulated widely across the Roman Mediterranean and the fortified frontiers along the Rhine and Danube rivers. Substantial numbers of these denarii have been recovered in British, French, and Balkan coin hoards deposited during the political and economic turbulence of the mid-third century AD. Because the silver content of the Severan denarius had declined compared to Trajanic or Antonine standards, coins of this type tended to remain in active trade rather than being immediately sorted out for bullion hoarding during the AD 220s and 230s. Consequently, many recovered specimens exhibit moderate to heavy wear from decades of hand-to-hand transactions. When the massive debasements of the AD 250s and 260s made even low-grade Severan silver valuable relative to the near-bronze radiates of Gallienus and Claudius II, denarii of Elagabalus were finally retired into deep emergency hoards, where they survived until modern rediscovery.

References

1. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, Vol. V: Pertinax to Elagabalus. p. 560, no. 190
2. Description historique des monnaies frappées sous l'Empire romain, Tome IV. p. 348, no. 273
3. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC IV Elagabalus 145b. ric.4.el.145b
4. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Vol. IV, Part II: Macrinus to Pupienus. p. 39, no. 145b