Elagabalus Silver Denarius, RIC IV Elagabalus 189

Monetary Context and Denominational Structure

The silver denarius remained the cornerstone of everyday administrative, military, and commercial expenditure across the Severan Roman Empire, functioning alongside the larger double-denarius, or antoninianus, which had been introduced under Caracalla. Under Elagabalus, the imperial government issued both denarii and antoniniani, though the traditional denarius was produced in immense quantities to satisfy army pay, provincial bureaucracy, and imperial donatives. Throughout the Severan era, the silver denarius suffered gradual declines in average weight standard and metallic fineness compared to its early imperial predecessors, generally maintaining a target weight between approximately 2.8 and 3.2 grams and a silver purity hovering near forty-five to fifty percent. The issue of RIC IV Elagabalus 189 belongs to the early administrative adjustments following the overthrow of Macrinus in AD 218. Denarii minted in the East served immediate fiscal necessities, particularly the payment and reward of the Syrian legions that orchestrated the imperial accession. While the Rome mint remained the primary supplier of silver coinage for the empire as a whole, eastern issues of denarii formed a vital imperial reserve that bridged regional military payments and imperial transitions.

Production and the Antioch Mint

RIC IV Elagabalus 189 was struck at the mint of Antioch in Syria, a primary administrative capital and logistics center for Rome in the Near East. The Antioch mint had long served as a major production site for provincial silver tetradrachms and civic bronze coinage, but during periods of political crisis, military campaign, or imperial residence, it was repeatedly mobilized to strike official imperial denarii on standard Roman specifications. The minting technique utilized carefully prepared circular flans of billon-grade silver, cold-struck or struck hot between two engraved iron or bronze dies. The eastern engraving workshops at Antioch maintained a distinct stylistic signature that separated their output from contemporary issues of the mint of Rome. Portraits engraved at Antioch often display sharper facial modeling, distinctively rendered curls, and elongated facial profiles typical of eastern craftsmen accustomed to cutting dies for provincial tetradrachms. The production of RIC IV Elagabalus 189 in Antioch reflects the immediate reliance of the young emperor on Syrian infrastructure in the aftermath of the military victory outside the city against Macrinus in June AD 218.

Obverse Design and Portraiture

The obverse of RIC IV Elagabalus 189 presents a right-facing bust of Elagabalus. The emperor is depicted as laureate and draped, viewing the right profile of his youth. The laurel wreath, tied at the nape of the neck with fluttering ribbons, serves as the primary visual emblem of imperial sovereignty, military legitimacy, and divine favor. The drapery wraps around the shoulders, executed in fluid, naturalistic folds typical of the Antioch workshop. Numismatists distinguish eastern portraits of Elagabalus from Rome mint productions by their specific anatomical treatment: eastern dies frequently accentuate the adolescent jawline, large expressive eyes, and prominent nose, reflecting the emperor's youth while assimilating his likeness to the official dynastic image of his reputed father, Caracalla. The die axis on specimens from this series typically follows regular upright or inverted alignments standard in imperial workshops. No horn or sacrificial attributes appear on this issue, separating it from the late sacerdotal portrait types struck after the institutionalization of the cult of Elagabal at Rome.

Reverse Iconography of Fortuna Redux

The reverse of RIC IV Elagabalus 189 features the goddess Fortuna, draped and seated facing left upon a backless seat. Upon her head, Fortuna wears a modius, a grain-measuring vessel that underscores themes of abundance, agrarian fertility, and imperial providence. In her extended right hand, she holds a patera, a shallow libation bowl employed in formal Roman religious sacrifice, indicating piety and the ceremonial invocation of divine goodwill. Cradled along her left arm is a large cornucopiae, overflowing with the fruits of the earth, symbolizing the peace and material prosperity promised under the new regime. Directly beneath the seat rests a wheel, an essential attribute of Fortuna representing the mutability of fate, the cyclical motion of human affairs, and the divine guidance that steers imperial progress. The combination of the modius, patera, cornucopiae, and wheel forms a complex iconographical synthesis: Fortuna is presented not merely as arbitrary luck, but as a protective, nourishing deity presiding over the safe movement and successful return of the emperor.

Inscriptions and Epigraphy

The obverse legend on RIC IV Elagabalus 189 reads ANTONINVS PIVS FEL AVG, an abbreviated Latin formula expanding to Antoninus Pius Felix Augustus. This titulature deliberately adopted the full legal and religious nomenclature of the Antonine and Severan dynasties, asserting the boy emperor's claim to be Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, the legitimate son of Caracalla. The epithets Pius, dutiful or pious, and Felix, fortunate or blessed, were standard elements of imperial ideology designed to convey religious virtue and auspicious rule. The reverse inscription reads FORTVNA REDVX, naming Fortuna the Returner. This dedicatory legend was an established numismatic tradition dating back to Augustus, invoked whenever an emperor embarked on a journey, returned from a military campaign, or was expected to travel across the provinces. Epigraphically, the lettering on eastern denarii of Antioch exhibits clean, slender letterforms with modest serifs, sometimes showing minor stylistic quirks in the execution of the letter S and the crossbars of A, reflecting the bilingual Greek and Latin engraving environment of the Syrian metropolis.

Typology and Chronological Placement

RIC IV Elagabalus 189 occupies a clearly demarcated position within the Severan volume of Roman Imperial Coinage, grouped specifically among the imperial denarii produced in the East rather than at Rome. The chronological envelope for the type falls between the summer of AD 218, following the defeat of Macrinus outside Antioch, and Elagabalus's westward progress toward Rome in AD 219, though the catalogue framework accommodates the full span of his reign through AD 222 for undated eastern issues. Because the coin carries no consular or tribunician numbers, precise sub-dating relies on historical circumstances and stylistic comparisons with dated Antioch emissions. The invocation of Fortuna Redux held immense political relevance between mid-AD 218 and mid-AD 219, when the imperial court resided in Antioch and subsequently traveled through Asia Minor toward the western capital. While Fortuna Redux was also struck at the Rome mint, RIC IV 189 remains typologically defined by its Antioch mint attribution, its specific reverse attributes including the modius and wheel, and its characteristic eastern die cutting.

Circulation and Monetary Impact

Although struck at Antioch, denarii bearing the type of RIC IV Elagabalus 189 were intended to circulate as legal tender across the entirety of the Roman Empire. Roman silver denarii possessed universal tariffing within imperial boundaries, moving freely through military disbursements, trade networks, and interprovincial fiscal transfers. Hoard evidence from the eastern provinces, the Danubian frontier, and Western Europe confirms that eastern denarii of the Severan period integrated fully into the general currency pool alongside contemporary Rome mint strikes. Because their silver fineness was calibrated to imperial standards rather than local provincial baselines, these coins traveled readily along with legions redeployed between the eastern and western frontiers. In circulation, specimens sustained standard wear, clipping, and occasional banker marks before being buried in savings hoards or retired during subsequent monetary recalls under the later Severans and third-century soldier emperors.

References

1. Coinage in Roman Syria: Northern Syria, 64 BC - AD 253. pp. 95-103
2. Coinage in the Roman Economy, 300 B.C. to A.D. 700. pp. 125-132
3. Coining Images of Power: Patterns in the Representation of Roman Emperors on Imperial Coinage, A.D. 193-284. pp. 110-116
4. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC IV Elagabalus 189. ric.4.el.189
5. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Volume IV, Part II: Macrinus to Pupienus. p. 45, no. 189