Macrinus Brass Dupondius, RIC IV Macrinus 203

Monetary Context and Denominational System

The monetary system inherited by Macrinus in AD 217 was characterized by deep structural strain and fiscal instability inherited from the Severan dynasty. Caracalla had expanded military stipends and introduced the double denarius or antoninianus while simultaneously debasing the silver coinage. In the realm of base-metal coinage, the traditional tripartite hierarchy of sestertius, dupondius, and as remained formally active, anchored by the authority of the Senate as signified by the formulaic inscription S C (Senatus Consulto). Within this framework, the dupondius was tariffed at half of a sestertius or two asses. Originating in the Augustan monetary reform as a coin struck in orichalcum (a bright golden brass alloy composed of copper and zinc), the dupondius had historically been distinguished from the copper as by both metal composition and portrait conventions. By the early third century AD, however, the zinc content in imperial brass had declined substantially due to metallurgical recycling and changing alloy recipes, narrowing the visual color contrast between the dupondius and the copper as. Consequently, the radiate crown remained the paramount and indispensable visual indicator enabling users across all strata of the Roman market to identify the denomination immediately without relying solely on weight or alloy hue.

Production and Mint Organization

Although Macrinus spent his entire reign in the East, directing military campaigns and diplomatic negotiations from Antioch and northern Syria, the production of his principal aes coinage, including RIC IV Macrinus 203, was conducted exclusively at the imperial mint in Rome. The urban mint maintained a long-standing operational structure organized into multiple workshops or officinae, which divided the labor of engraving dies, casting flans, and striking coin blanks for the various denominations. The physical fabric of the dupondius under Macrinus exhibits typical early third-century characteristics, including thick cast blanks with beveled edges and manual alignment of the dies. Weight standards for the dupondius during this period hovered between 11 and 14 grams on average, though broad tolerances were standard in aes issues because middle bronze coins were token currency whose intrinsic metal value was secondary to their legally mandated purchasing power. Engravers at the Rome mint worked from official portrait models and imperial dispatches transmitted from the imperial headquarters in the East, resulting in stylistic shifts over the course of the reign as newer imperial likenesses reached the capital.

Obverse Iconography and Imperial Image

The obverse of RIC IV Macrinus 203 presents a right-facing bust of the emperor wearing a radiate crown and military cuirass. The radiate crown, with its distinctive projecting solar spikes, serves as the defining mark of denomination, linking the imperial portrait with the solar radiance traditionally associated with Sol. Macrinus is depicted with short-cropped hair, a neatly trimmed beard, and furrowed facial features intended to evoke gravitas, experience, and administrative maturity. Numismatists have noted that early issues of Macrinus produced in Rome relied on stylized likenesses that shared artistic affinities with his predecessor Caracalla, featuring a shorter beard and severe brow, whereas later portrait dies gradually introduced a fuller, more elongated beard and distinctive facial contours reflecting authentic descriptions of the equestrian emperor. The cuirassed bust highlights Macrinus's role as supreme military commander (imperator), an ideological necessity for a ruler who lacked aristocratic senatorial lineage and whose legitimacy depended entirely upon the fragile loyalty of the legions.

Reverse Typology and Allegorical Meaning

The reverse of the type features Securitas, the divine personification of safety, stability, and freedom from peril. She is shown draped in a stola, standing facing left with her legs comfortably crossed, holding a vertical sceptre in her right hand while resting her left elbow upon a low column. In the lower field, flanking the figure, appear the letters S and C. Every element of this composition was deliberately chosen to communicate tranquility and institutional permanence. The crossed-legs posture (statura cruribus cancellatis) was a recognized artistic convention signifying absolute relaxation and absence of anxiety, indicating that the Roman world had no cause for alarm under the new princeps. The column serves as an emblem of architectural firmament and steadfastness, showing that imperial safety was anchored on solid foundations rather than volatile fortune. The long sceptre denotes legitimate sovereign authority. By selecting Securitas Temporum for aes denominations, the administration sought to cultivate public confidence among urban citizens and merchants who handled middle bronze coinage in everyday trade.

Epigraphy and Titulature

The epigraphic program of RIC IV Macrinus 203 combines standard constitutional titles with allegorical slogans. The obverse legend reads IMP CAES M OPEL SEV MACRINVS AVG, expanding to Imperator Caesar Marcus Opellius Severus Macrinus Augustus. Upon taking power, Macrinus adopted the prestigious cognomen Severus to fabricate a nominal connection to the popular Severan dynasty, attempting to appease the soldiers and plebeians who revered the memory of Septimius Severus. The titles Imperator, Caesar, and Augustus frame the emperor within traditional constitutional terminology, declaring supreme military imperium and august status. The reverse legend, SECVRITAS TEMPORVM, translates as 'the Security of the Times.' Flanking the personification, the letters S C abbreviate Senatus Consulto, meaning 'by decree of the Senate.' While the imperial treasury and coinage production had long been under direct control of the emperor's fiscal bureaucracy, the formal retention of S C on base-metal issues maintained the traditional legal fiction that bronze and copper denominations were authorized in partnership with the senatorial order.

Typological Classification and Chronological Placement

In the standard reference catalog The Roman Imperial Coinage (Volume IV, Part II), Harold Mattingly and Edward A. Sydenham classified this dupondius as RIC 203 under the aes coinage of Macrinus. Chronologically, the issue belongs to the general undated series struck across AD 217 and AD 218. In his seminal study on the coinage of Macrinus, Curtis L. Clay classified the emperor's issues into three successive chronological phases based on portrait development and titular variations, demonstrating that reverse types celebrating Securitas appeared early in the reign and remained in continuous production until the collapse of the regime. The type corresponds closely to companion denominations; the identical allegorical design appears on sestertii (where Macrinus is depicted laureate rather than radiate) and on silver denarii and quinarii. Because Macrinus was proclaimed Augustus in mid-April AD 217 and died in June AD 218, the operational window for RIC 203 was narrow, terminating abruptly with the accession of Elagabalus and the damnatio memoriae directed against Macrinus.

Circulation, Hoarding, and Survival

As a fractional base-metal denomination, the dupondius was produced primarily for local urban transactions, market trade, and everyday retail commerce. Middle bronze issues like RIC IV Macrinus 203 circulated alongside substantial volumes of older aes coins, particularly Antonine and Severan sestertii and dupondii that remained in circulation for generations due to sluggish base-metal output under Caracalla and his successors. Hoard evidence from across the Roman provinces indicates that aes coins were rarely hoarded in the same concentrated manner as silver denarii or aurei, which represented stores of high-value wealth. Instead, bronze denominations are commonly recovered as isolated site finds in civilian settlements, military castra, and urban centers throughout Italy, the Rhine frontier, and the Danubian provinces. The brevity of Macrinus's reign of roughly fourteen months restricted the absolute volume of dupondii produced, making specimens of RIC 203 far less common in the archaeological record than the prolific dupondii of Marcus Aurelius, Commodus, or Septimius Severus.

References

1. Corpus Nummorum Romanorum: Da Macrino a Diadumeniano, Vol. XIV. pp. 58-60
2. The Roman Coinage of Macrinus and Diadumenian. Numismatische Zeitschrift 93 (1979), pp. 21-40
3. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC IV Macrinus 203. RIC IV Macrinus 203
4. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Vol. IV, Part II: Macrinus to Pupienus. p. 20, no. 203
5. Die Münzprägung der Kaiser Marcus Aurelius Severus Alexander und Macrinus (MIR 18). Moneta Imperii Romani 18, Macrinus