Julia Paula Silver Denarius, RIC IV Elagabalus 211

Monetary Context and Denominational Setting

During the reign of Elagabalus (218 to 222 AD), the silver denarius served as the operational backbone of Roman imperial state finance, civilian markets, and administrative expenditure, despite the prior introduction of the double denarius or antoninianus under Caracalla. Following his accession, Elagabalus initially paused the production of the radiate double denarius, relying predominantly on traditional denarii and imperial bronze issues. Denarii struck under Elagabalus continued the debased monetary standard that had evolved across the Severan dynasty. By 219 AD, the mean weight of the denarius hovered around 3.0 to 3.2 grams, while the intrinsic silver fineness stood at approximately forty to forty-five percent, with the balance consisting of alloyed copper. The marriage of Elagabalus to Julia Cornelia Paula in late 219 AD presented an urgent political and ideological imperative to advertise marital legitimacy and dynastic stability across the provinces and military garrisons. Coins bearing the name and portrait of the new Augusta were distributed immediately into circulation through imperial disbursements and routine treasury operations, providing the wider Mediterranean world with tangible notice of the imperial union.

Production and Mint Allocation

The entire verified emission catalogued under RIC IV Elagabalus 211 was produced by the imperial mint at Rome. Although eastern mints, notably Antioch, struck substantial volumes of silver coinage during the early years of Elagabalus's reign, this specific type was executed by the specialized engravers and workshop officinae of the urban capital. Die cutting at Rome in 219 and 220 AD adhered to rigorous stylistic conventions, characterized by refined portrait modeling, neat lettering with distinct serifs, and proportional human figures on reverse compositions. Blanks were prepared by casting flans from molten billon alloy, followed by standard hot striking between engraved bronze dies. The placement of a star in the reverse field is a conspicuous feature of this issue, as well as several contemporaneous types struck under Elagabalus and Julia Maesa. In the Roman mint context, such celestial marks have been interpreted by numismatists either as officina indicators or as symbolic emblems associated with the solar divinity Elagabal, whose cult the young emperor promoted to the head of the Roman pantheon.

Obverse Iconography and Imperial Portraiture

The obverse of RIC IV Elagabalus 211 presents the right-facing bust of Julia Cornelia Paula, rendered with formal drapery covering the shoulders. Engravers at the Rome mint captured the aristocratic features of the empress, who was descended from an ancient and distinguished patrician lineage. Her hair is rendered in the distinctive Severan court fashion popularized by Julia Domna: combed back in neat, deep horizontal waves that descend down the side of the head, then gathered into a broad, flat braid or plait that is folded upward and pinned against the occiput. This hairstyle emphasized decorum, traditional modesty, and dynastic continuity with the revered house of Septimius Severus. The die work demonstrates subtle stylistic variations across individual dies, with some portraits showing slightly more delicate facial features while others present a broader profile, yet all maintain the canonical drapery folds and tight hair arrangement established by the master workshops.

Reverse Iconography and Symbolism

The reverse composition is dominated by Concordia, the personification of concord, marital harmony, and civic peace. She is depicted draped and seated facing left upon an ornate throne, extending a patera in her right hand to symbolize the performance of sacred sacrificial rites that seal an alliance. In her left arm or resting alongside her throne, she is typically shown without a cornucopia on this specific variant, focusing attention directly upon the act of religious offering. An eight-pointed or six-pointed star appears prominently in the field, most commonly in the left field near Concordia's seated torso or outstretched arm, though minor die variations place the symbol in alternative positions. Within imperial marriage coinage, Concordia functioned as the supreme embodiment of conjugal unity, reassuring the Roman populace and the praetorian guard that the imperial house was anchored by legitimate wedlock, while the star reinforced celestial favor and divine protection over the marriage.

Epigraphy and Legend Structure

The legends on RIC IV Elagabalus 211 are concise and conform to standard imperial epigraphic formulas of the third century AD. The obverse legend reads IVLIA PAVLA AVG, expanding to Iulia Paula Augusta. By employing the title Augusta without patronymic or paternal references, the inscription proclaims her elevation to imperial status entirely through her matrimonial union with the Augustus. The reverse legend consists of the single nominative noun CONCORDIA. Letters are executed in regular Roman capitals, carefully spaced around the beaded borders. On well-struck dies, the letterforms exhibit clean terminals and moderate relief. Irregularities such as ligatured letters are absent, reflecting the disciplined standards of the Rome mint during this phase of the Severan administration.

Typology and Chronological Classification

In the standard reference work The Roman Imperial Coinage (Volume IV, Part II), Harold Mattingly and Edward A. Sydenham classified this denarius as type 211 under the coinage of Elagabalus for Julia Paula. Paula was married to Elagabalus in late 219 AD, amidst lavish imperial celebrations in the capital, but was repudiated and divorced approximately a year later, in late 220 AD, when the emperor took the Vestal Virgin Aquilia Severa as his second wife. Consequently, the production window for all official Roman issues in Paula's name was strictly confined to late 219 and throughout 220 AD. Within Paula's modest numismatic corpus, the seated Concordia type represented by RIC 211 is distinguished from standing Concordia types (such as RIC 214 and 216) and from issues depicting Venus Genetrix or celebratory sacrificial motifs. The presence of the star symbol further separates RIC 211 from starless variants, establishing a distinct sub-series aligned chronologically with parallel starred issues struck for Elagabalus and Julia Maesa during the middle of the reign.

Circulation, Hoard Evidence, and Survival

Despite her brief tenure as Augusta, Julia Paula's denarii were struck in substantial numbers to satisfy immediate payment obligations, including potential marriage donatives distributed to the military and urban populace. Once introduced into the monetary stream, coins of type RIC 211 circulated widely throughout the western and Danubian provinces alongside earlier Severan and Antonine silver. Hoard evidence from Britain, Gaul, Germany, and the Balkans demonstrates that Paula's denarii remained in active commercial use for decades following her divorce and withdrawal to private life, surviving until the severe inflationary debasements of the mid-third century AD led to widespread hoarding. Because the damnatio memoriae following Elagabalus's death in 222 AD did not systematically target Paula, who had already been discarded by the emperor, her coins were not systematically melted or defaced, permitting modest numbers of specimens to survive in good condition in public and private cabinets today.

References

1. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, Volume V: Pertinax to Elagabalus. pp. 556-557, nos. 172-176
2. The Metallurgy of Roman Silver Coinage: From the Reform of Nero to the Reform of Trajan Decius. pp. 640-645
3. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC IV Elagabalus 211. ric.4.el.211
4. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Volume IV, Part II: Macrinus to Pupienus. pp. 45-46, no. 211