Macrinus Bronze Sestertius RIC IV Macrinus 167c

Monetary Context and Denominational Function

During the early third century AD, the Roman currency system rested upon a bimetallic and bronze structure established originally under Augustus and reformed through successive imperial reigns. The bronze or orichalcum sestertius held a nominal value of four asses or one quarter of a silver denarius. Although the silver denarius and the double denarius or antoninianus constituted the primary vehicles for imperial military payroll and broad interprovincial transfers, large-format base metal coins represented the lifeblood of retail market exchange, regional commercial settlement, and institutional bookkeeping in Rome and the western provinces. By the accession of Macrinus in the spring of 217 AD, state expenditures were strained by the exorbitant military concessions and wage increases previously granted under Caracalla. Macrinus inherited an empty imperial treasury and volatile legions deployed in Mesopotamia. In an effort to stabilize state finances, Macrinus instituted modest monetary adjustments, attempting to moderate the downward trajectory of precious metal fineness while sustaining the standard production of bronze denominations at the capital. The production of sestertii such as RIC IV Macrinus 167c reinforced the illusion of institutional continuity and traditional imperial oversight, maintaining the standard weight standard of roughly twenty to twenty-five grams of copper alloy that urban markets had depended upon for over two centuries.

Production Standards and Mint Operation

All imperial bronze issues of RIC IV Macrinus 167c were struck at the central imperial mint in Rome. Although Macrinus himself spent the entirety of his fourteen-month reign in the eastern provinces without ever visiting the city of Rome, the monetary apparatus of the capital continued operating under the direction of the procurator monetae and the administrative oversight of the Senate. Sestertii were manufactured through hot striking between engraved bronze or iron dies onto cast brass or bronze flans. Typical baseline weights for sestertii during the early third century fluctuated broadly, with contemporary specimens commonly clustering around twenty-two grams, though individual surviving pieces exhibit significant variation due to liberal mass tolerances permitted in the casting of base metal blanks. Die alignment in this series conforms to the standard Roman imperial medal-alignment practice, predominantly upright or slightly offset at roughly twelve or six o'clock. The technical execution of the dies demonstrates the refined craftsmanship characteristic of the Roman metropolitan workshops, where master engravers accurately translated imperial portrait busts and allegorical models into low and medium relief despite the physical absence of the emperor.

Obverse Iconography and Imperial Presentation

The obverse of RIC IV Macrinus 167c presents a right-facing portrait bust of Macrinus exhibiting a laureate wreath, artistic drapery, and military cuirass. This specific bust configuration distinguishes variant 167c from related subtypes within the RIC 167 sequence, such as 167a which features a head crowned solely by a laurel wreath, or 167b which portrays a laureate and draped bust lacking visible armor. Macrinus is depicted with mature facial features, including a closely trimmed beard and cropped hair in keeping with contemporary military grooming conventions. The inclusion of both the paludamentum drapery and the defensive cuirass visually emphasized his authority as the supreme commander of the Roman military legions, a particularly vital visual argument for an equestrian ruler whose claim to power rested entirely upon the assent of the imperial army stationed in the East. Engravers in Rome adjusted the facial features across the brief issue sequence, transitioning from early stylized likenesses influenced by Caracalla's portraits to more personalized physiognomic renderings characterized by a broader visage, distinct nose, and longer philosophical beard.

Reverse Design and Allegorical Imagery

The reverse design of this sestertius features the full-length standing figure of Aequitas facing toward the left, clad in long flowing drapery consisting of a stola and palla. In her right hand, she extends forward a set of balance scales, the primary attribute symbolizing accurate measurement, equitable commercial exchange, and sound standardizations of weight and money. In her crook of her left arm, she cradles a horn of plenty or cornucopiae, overflowing with fruits and ears of grain to denote the material prosperity, civic abundance, and agricultural fecundity that naturally follow honest administration. The personification is flanked in the open lower fields by the bold letters S and C, representing the traditional constitutional formula Senatus Consulto. The appearance of Aequitas on bronze currency was an established visual trope intended to communicate the integrity of the state monetary system, assuring both domestic merchants and provincial consumers that despite political shifts, the imperial authority maintained strict adherence to established monetary and legal benchmarks.

Epigraphy and Legend Readings

The epigraphic program of RIC IV Macrinus 167c is crisply incised in standard imperial Latin capital script. The obverse legend reads IMP CAES M OPEL SEV MACRINVS AVG, an abbreviated text expanding to Imperator Caesar Marcus Opellius Severus Macrinus Augustus. The inclusion of the cognomen Severus represented a deliberate political choice by Macrinus to claim symbolic continuity with the established Severan dynasty founded by Septimius Severus, thereby softening the irregularity of his equestrian usurpation. On the reverse, the legend reads AEQVITAS AVG, an abbreviation for Aequitas Augusti, or the Equity of the Augustus. This phrase explicitly tied the abstract ethical virtue of fairness and righteous distribution directly to the person and reign of the emperor himself. In the field beneath and beside the standing figure, the inscription S C abbreviates Senatus Consulto, signifying that the base metal coin was officially authorized by formal decree of the Senate, preserving the traditional Augustan dyarchy between emperor and senate on token issues.

Typology and Chronological Classification

Within the typology of the Roman Imperial Coinage, RIC 167 encompasses a unified reverse issue defined by the legend AEQVITAS AVG and the standing figure of Aequitas, subdivided into specific entries based entirely upon the arrangement and accoutrements of the imperial bust. Variant 167a designates the laureate head; variant 167b captures the laureate and draped bust; and variant 167c denotes the complete military and civic presentation of a laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust. Numismatist Curtis Clay demonstrated that the coinage of Macrinus can be arranged into distinct chronologically ordered phases based on the progressive evolution of the obverse legends and portraiture. The legend formula IMP CAES M OPEL SEV MACRINVS AVG commenced early in his reign in 217 AD and remained standard on bronze strikings into the initial months of 218 AD. The Aequitas bronze issues formed an integral element of the regime's core ideological output, struck alongside complementary personifications such as Fides Militum, Salus, and Felicitas. The minting of this type ceased definitively in June 218 AD upon the defeat of Macrinus at the Battle of Antioch and the proclamation of Elagabalus.

Circulation Patterns and Archaeological Recovery

Bronze sestertii struck under Macrinus circulated primarily throughout Italy and the western European provinces, including Gaul, Hispania, Britain, and the Rhine-Danube military frontiers. Because Macrinus held supreme power for only fourteen months, his overall volume of bronze mintage was substantially smaller than that of long-reigning Severan predecessors such as Septimius Severus or Caracalla. Consequently, specimens of RIC IV Macrinus 167c appear in archaeological site finds and stray deposits at a noticeably lower frequency than earlier Severan sestertii. In hoard evidence from the third century, these coins often survive in moderately to heavily worn conditions alongside second-century antonine brass and bronze pieces, demonstrating that sestertii from Macrinus remained in commercial circulation for decades after his death. The political condemnation of Macrinus resulted in some local damnatio memoriae of public monuments, yet there is little evidence of systematic withdrawal or demonetization of his base metal coinage, which continued to function based on its intrinsic metal utility and tariffed value until the collapse of the western bronze monetary system in the late third century.

References

1. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, Volume V: Pertinax to Elagabalus. pp. 515-525
2. The Mints and Chronology of Macrinus. Numismatic Chronicle, Ser. 7, Vol. 19 (1979), pp. 21-40
3. Coinage in the Roman Economy, 300 B.C. to A.D. 700. pp. 125-132
4. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Volume IV, Part II: Macrinus to Pupienus. pp. 17-21, no. 167c
5. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC IV Macrinus 167c. Type record ric.4.mcs.167c