Elagabalus Silver Denarius RIC IV Elagabalus 168d

Monetary Context and Historical Setting

The accession of Elagabalus in May and June of 218 AD brought a decisive end to the brief reign of Macrinus and restored the Severan dynastic line through the maternal lineage of Julia Maesa. Having secured the loyalty of the Legio III Gallica and defeated Macrinus near Antioch, the fourteen-year-old ruler took up residence in the Syrian metropolis for the winter of 218 to 219 AD. This sudden transition placed heavy demands on regional finances, requiring substantial disbursements of coinage to the soldiers who had facilitated the coup d'etat. The silver denarius remained the primary currency of imperial military pay and administrative commerce across the Roman world. Under the Severan emperors, the denarius had experienced gradual debasement, maintaining an average fineness around forty to forty-five percent silver and a standard theoretical weight around 3.1 to 3.2 grams. Issues struck at Antioch under Elagabalus adhered to these prevailing imperial standards while meeting urgent local liquidity needs. RIC IV Elagabalus 168d belongs to this energetic period of eastern production, celebrating the young prince's constitutional standing and projecting an image of administrative order through traditional imperial iconography.

Production and Mint Organization

RIC IV Elagabalus 168d was produced at the imperial mint of Antioch in Syria. Antioch had long served as a key regional center for civic bronze and provincial tetradrachm minting, but under the Severans, it was intermittently commissioned to strike standard imperial denarii to supply eastern field armies and administrative hubs without relying on shipments from Rome. Numismatists distinguish eastern denarii of Elagabalus from their Rome mint counterparts through technical fabric and stylistic execution. Dies produced in Antioch typically display more angular lettering, distinctive triangular serifs, and a portrait style featuring compact proportions with deeply engraved facial features. Flans at the eastern mint often show moderate irregularity in thickness and contour, resulting from rapid manual blank preparation. The metallurgical output of the Syrian mint during this interval produced denarii of comparable silver purity and weight distribution to contemporary issues from Rome, ensuring seamless integration into imperial army circulation and tax collection.

Obverse Imagery and Portrait Style

The obverse of RIC IV Elagabalus 168d features a right-facing bust of the youthful emperor, rendered as laureate, draped, and cuirassed. In the typology established by the Roman Imperial Coinage, the letter suffix d explicitly distinguishes this specific composite bust treatment from other varieties of type 168 that feature simpler drapery or bare cuirasses. The portrait captures Elagabalus at the outset of his reign, showing smooth facial planes and an idealized, adolescent profile that deliberately evokes his purported father, Caracalla. The laurel wreath sits firmly on his short curls, with the ribbon ties trailing downward across the nape of his neck. Over the shoulder, the metallic segments of the cuirass are visible beneath the folds of the paludamentum or imperial cloak, secured at the shoulder. This combined military and civic attire served as a vital visual statement, emphasizing the emperor's legitimate role as commander-in-chief of the legions while maintaining classical civil dignity.

Reverse Iconography and Symbolism

The reverse iconography of RIC IV Elagabalus 168d portrays Aequitas, the personification of equity, fair dealing, and upright administrative measurement. She stands facing left, clad in a long, draped stola with flowing folds that cascade to her feet. In her outstretched right hand, Aequitas holds a handheld balance, symbol of balanced judgment, fiscal integrity, and the honest regulation of the imperial currency. In her left arm, she cradles a bountiful cornucopia, representing the abundance, prosperity, and reliable state provisioning resulting from equitable governance. Personifications of Aequitas were frequently invoked during changes of reign and consular inaugurations to reassure both the senatorial aristocracy and the public that imperial finances, taxation, and grain distributions would be conducted without extortion or arbitrary confiscation. In the context of Antioch in 218 to 219 AD, this design asserted that the new regime brought both monetary stability and material plenty to an empire shaken by civil conflict.

Inscriptions and Epigraphic Analysis

The inscriptions on RIC IV Elagabalus 168d are executed in clean Latin capital letters following official imperial formulas. The obverse legend reads IMP ANTONINVS AVG, an abbreviated formulation of Imperator Antoninus Augustus. By completely omitting the birth name Varius Avitus Bassianus and adopting the venerable name Antoninus, the regime reinforced Elagabalus's claim to be the natural son of Caracalla and the authentic heir to the Antonine legacy. The reverse legend reads CONSVL II P P, designating the title of Consul for the second time (Consul Iterum) alongside Pater Patriae, Father of the Country. The epigraphy reflects Syrian die-cutting habits, including narrow letter spacing, sharply incised crossbars, and occasional variations in the size of the punctuation and vowels. The combination of concise titulature on both faces ensured legibility even on the restricted surface area of a standard denarius flan.

Typology and Chronological Classification

The chronological placement of RIC IV Elagabalus 168d is determined by the consular iteration recorded on its reverse. Elagabalus assumed his first consulship while at Antioch in 218 AD, succeeding Macrinus, and entered upon his second consulship on January 1, 219 AD. The legend CONSVL II P P securely dates the issue to 219 AD, although production may have commenced late in 218 AD in anticipation of the upcoming consular year. In the classification scheme of Mattingly and Sydenham, type 168 encompasses denarii featuring this exact reverse legend paired with Aequitas, while lowercase letters designate obverse bust varieties: 168a for laureate and draped busts, 168b for laureate busts with slight drapery, 168c for laureate and cuirassed busts, and 168d for the full laureate, draped, and cuirassed treatment. Eastern denarii of this type ceased production by mid-219 AD as the imperial retinue moved westward across Asia Minor and the Balkans, culminating in Elagabalus's formal entry into Rome later that summer.

Circulation Patterns and Archaeological Evidence

Although minted at Antioch, denarii of Elagabalus produced in the East were fully tariffed as imperial legal tender and circulated widely alongside issues struck at Rome. Denarii formed the primary currency in military camps along the eastern frontiers, particularly in Syria, Mesopotamia, and Cappadocia, where soldiers received their annual stipends and accessional donatives. Hoard evidence from across the Roman Empire confirms that eastern denarii were not confined to the provinces of their manufacture. Once introduced into the military supply chain, coins such as RIC IV Elagabalus 168d moved fluidly along transit corridors into the Danubian provinces, the western limes, and northern Europe through army redeployments and merchant trade. Many surviving specimens display moderate to heavy wear consistent with several decades of sustained market use, often remaining in active circulation until the major monetary crises and widespread hoard concealments of the mid-third century AD.

References

1. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, Volume V: Pertinax to Elagabalus. pp. 583-585
2. The Silver Coinage of Syrian Antioch under the Severans. The Numismatic Chronicle, Vol. 168, pp. 1-20
3. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Volume IV, Part II: Macrinus to Pupienus. pp. 44-45, no. 168d
4. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC IV Elagabalus 168d. ric.4.el.168d