Salonina Antoninianus RIC V Salonina (2) 24

Monetary Context and Denominational Setting

The coinage catalogued as RIC V Salonina (2) 24 was struck during the sole reign of Gallienus between 260 and 268 AD, an era defined by profound fiscal and military instability known as the Crisis of the Third Century. Following the capture of Emperor Valerian I by the Sasanian king Shapur I in 260 AD, Gallienus retained control over an empire fractured by secessionist regimes in Gaul and the East. To maintain the loyalty of the legions and finance continuous defense on multiple frontiers, the imperial government accelerated the debasement of the antoninianus, the principal silver denomination instituted originally under Caracalla. While earlier radiates of the joint reign of Valerian and Gallienus maintained modest silver purities of twenty to thirty percent, the issues of Gallienus's sole reign rapidly declined to less than five percent silver, eventually consisting of a base copper alloy treated with a fleeting, micro-thin silver wash applied prior to or during striking. Although catalogued numismatically under the category of silver, the physical fabric of RIC V Salonina (2) 24 is low-grade billon. The weight standard also experienced substantial erratic fluctuation, dropping from an average near three grams down to two grams or lower towards the end of the reign. Despite this acute decline in intrinsic bullion value, the Roman state continued to tariff the antoninianus as an imperial double denarius, enforcing fiduciary circulation across the territories under the direct administration of Gallienus.

Production and Mint Organization

Type RIC V Salonina (2) 24 was produced exclusively at the imperial mint of Rome, which served as the primary administrative and production hub for Gallienus's central empire. During this period, the Rome mint expanded its internal organizational structure to operate across a network of distinct officinae, or workshops, numbering up to twelve by the later phases of the sole reign. These workshops operated in parallel to fulfill the immense volume requirements driven by currency debasement and reminting cycles. While contemporary issues of Gallienus frequently bore explicit Greek or Latin workshop numerals in the field or exergue, such as the famous animal series, emissions struck in the name of Salonina were often unmarked or carried simplified control marks depending on the precise emission sequence. Dies were produced by skilled engravers working under immense logistical strain, leading to noticeable variations in portrait modeling, lettering style, and drapery folds across individual die pairs. Blanks were cast in multiple-mold flan trees and clipped rapidly before striking, resulting in irregular flan edges, axis shifts, and occasional strikethroughs that characterize mass production at Rome during the 260s AD.

Obverse Iconography and Imperial Representation

The obverse of RIC V Salonina (2) 24 features the bust of Empress Cornelia Salonina facing right, adorned with a stephane or diadem and wearing classical Roman drapery. Crucially, the bust rests upon a crescent moon, whose horns protrude upward beneath the truncation of the bust. On third-century imperial coinage, the crescent functioned as the direct feminine counterpart to the radiate crown worn by male emperors, signifying the denomination of the antoninianus or double denarius. The portraiture is rendered in the characteristic severe, stylized manner of the mid-third century, depicting Salonina with a refined classical profile, an elaborate braided hairstyle brought forward into a ridge or chignon, and dignified maternal composure. This visual formulation emphasized dynastic continuity, stability, and legitimate imperial rank at a time when rival claimants contested imperial legitimacy across the provinces.

Reverse Design and Religious Iconography

The reverse of the coin presents the standing figure of Pudicitia, the divine personification of female modesty, chastity, and traditional virtue. Clothed in a long stola and palla that falls in vertical folds to her feet, Pudicitia stands turned toward the left. In accordance with established imperial iconography, her right hand is raised toward her face to lift or adjust her veil, an ancient gesture symbolizing female seclusion, modesty, and marital fidelity. In her left hand, she holds a long sceptre, either vertical or slightly oblique, representing moral authority and her status as an imperial protector of the Augusta. Pudicitia had long appeared on Roman coinage struck for empresses, dating back to the Julio-Claudian and Antonine periods, but its persistence under Gallienus served a particular ideological purpose. In the midst of acute geopolitical catastrophe and military mutinies, invoking Pudicitia affirmed the moral rectitude and divine favor of the central imperial household, presenting Salonina as the archetypal Roman matron upholding ancestral customs against contemporary moral and social decay.

Epigraphy and Legend Variations

The legends on RIC V Salonina (2) 24 are concise and formulaic, adhering to the standardized epigraphic patterns of the Rome mint during the sole reign of Gallienus. The obverse reads SALONINA AVG, an abbreviation of Salonina Augusta. This inscription omits her full nomen Cornelia, which had featured more prominently on early issues of the joint reign, reflecting an administrative tendency toward shorter, standardized obverse titulature in the later 260s AD. The reverse carries the single nominative legend PVDICITIA, naming the personified virtue depicted in the central field. The lettering is executed in Roman capital script, typically featuring tall, slender characters with triangular serifs. Due to high-volume die production, letter forms can vary between neat, classical cutting and compressed, irregular alignments, with occasional letter ligatures or weak punch impressions on worn dies.

Typology and Chronological Sequence

Within the typology established by Percy H. Webb in Roman Imperial Coinage Volume V, Part 1, this issue is categorized under the sole reign series of Salonina at Rome as type 24. It is distinct from neighboring Pudicitia variants, such as RIC V Salonina (2) 25, which features Pudicitia seated holding a transverse sceptre, as well as distinct from eastern issues struck at Antioch or Asian mints that employ divergent legend breaks and stylistic conventions. In Robert Göbl's comprehensive chronological framework in Moneta Imperii Romani (MIR 36), the standing Pudicitia type at Rome is situated across specific emission phases between 260 and 268 AD. Göbl identified stylistic groupings and die linkages that associate these issues with specific operational phases of the Rome mint, distinguishing early sole reign strikes from the final, highly debased issues struck shortly before the assassination of Gallienus and Salonina outside Mediolanum in 268 AD.

Hoard Evidence and Circulation

Antoniniani of the RIC V Salonina (2) 24 type circulated widely across the central and western territories of the Roman Empire, despite the fracturing of the state into regional polities. Large monetary assemblages, such as the Cunetio hoard from Wiltshire in Britain and the Normanby hoard, contain significant quantities of Gallienic sole reign billon radiates, documenting how these coins migrated across frontiers and continued to circulate alongside Gallic Empire issues. Because these coins possessed very little intrinsic silver, Gresham's Law operated vigorously: higher-purity radiates from earlier reigns were systematically hoarded or melted, while low-grade issues like RIC V Salonina (2) 24 remained in active, rapid circulation for daily market transactions and soldiers' supplementary pay. The type remained a staple of circulation until the monetary reform of Aurelian in 274 AD, which introduced higher-quality radiates (the aurelianianus) marked XXI, precipitating the gradual demonetization and mass burial of earlier billon issues across the empire.

References

1. The Cunetio Treasure: Roman Coinage of the Third Century AD. British Museum Publications, London, 1983
2. Die Münzprägung des Kaisers Gallienus (MIR 36). Vienna, 2000
3. Coinage in the Roman Economy, 300 B.C. to A.D. 700. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1996
4. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC V Salonina (2) 24. ric.5.sala(2).24
5. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Volume V, Part I. pp. 193-195, no. 24