Macrinus Orichalcum Sestertius RIC IV Macrinus 137

Monetary Context and the Severan Sestertius

The sestertius stood as the premier large-format base-metal denomination of the imperial Roman monetary system, preserving an administrative lineage tracing back to the Augustan monetary reforms of the late first century BC. By the accession of Macrinus in April AD 217, the denomination was regularly produced in orichalcum, a brass alloy of copper and zinc, though metallurgical variability and lead additions were increasingly common in third-century minting practice. While silver denominations such as the denarius and the newly created antoninianus were heavily relied upon for military pay and state expenditures, the bronze coinage retained essential civic utility for daily transactions in Rome and western provinces. A transition in the imperial purple necessitated immediate, recognizable signals of institutional continuity, especially in the capital where the imperial grain supply remained politically sensitive. RIC IV Macrinus 137 embodies this standard civic outreach. The striking of a heavyweight orichalcum sestertius assured the civilian populace of the uninterrupted functioning of state markets and distributions. The denomination maintained a formal tariff of four sestertii to the silver denarius and one quarter of a dupondius per sestertius, occupying a key position within retail trade.

Mint Organization and Production at Rome

Production of RIC IV Macrinus 137 was conducted exclusively at the imperial mint of Rome, despite the emperor himself never visiting the Italian peninsula during his fourteen-month reign. Following Caracalla's death near Carrhae and Macrinus's acclamation in the East, official dispatches and portrait models were transmitted to the Senate and the monetary magistrates in the capital. The mint of Rome operated in structured officinae, employing skilled engravers to establish the iconographic template of the unfamiliar ruler. Base-metal blanks for the sestertius were prepared by casting flans in open or two-part molds before hot-striking between intaglio dies. Surviving specimens of Macrinus's bronze coinage show typical early third-century technical properties, with weights clustering generally between twenty and twenty-six grams, struck across broad flans measuring roughly thirty to thirty-four millimeters in diameter. Individual weights, planchet thicknesses, and flan axes vary due to manual pouring and striking procedures. Dies for RIC IV Macrinus 137 were aligned predominantly near twelve o'clock or six o'clock, reflecting the regulated manufacturing methods maintained by the urban mint staff.

Obverse Iconography and Imperial Portraiture

The obverse of RIC IV Macrinus 137 presents the right-facing imperial bust of Macrinus, decorated with the laurel wreath of victory and garbed in both a military cuirass and paludamentum drapery. Because die-engravers at Rome had to inaugurate issues before authentic imperial portraits reached Italy, early portraiture under Macrinus exhibits stylistic evolution. Engravers initially adapted generalized Severan facial features or drew inspiration from likenesses of Marcus Aurelius and Septimius Severus to emphasize legitimacy. Macrinus is depicted with a cropped, curly beard, prominent facial contours, and a mature expression appropriate for an experienced equestrian jurist elevated to the supreme office. The bust configuration, combining cuirass and drapery, asserts his dual identity as military commander and civilian protector. Die variations occur across the issue in the length and curl of the beard, the arrangement of laurel ties trailing behind the head, and the precise modeling of drapery folds across the shoulder.

Reverse Design: Annona and State Distribution

The reverse of RIC IV Macrinus 137 depicts Annona, the divine personification of the grain harvest and the imperial provisioning of Rome. She is shown draped and seated facing left, holding ears of corn or grain stalks in her extended right hand and cradling a horn of plenty, the cornucopiae, in her left arm. At her feet rests a modius, the traditional dry grain-measure, from which additional ears of corn emerge. In the lower field, flanking the seated deity, appears the large inscription S C for Senatus Consulto. Annona represented an essential thematic pillar of imperial legitimacy, reminding the citizenry that the emperor oversaw the continuous arrival of maritime grain fleets from Egypt and Africa. By showing Annona seated in a posture of calm stability alongside symbols of bounty, the composition projected peace, abundance, and imperial beneficence to an urban population unsettled by sudden dynastic change in the Parthian war theater.

Inscriptions and Senatorial Validation

The obverse legend of RIC IV Macrinus 137 reads IMP CAES M OPEL SEV MACRINVS AVG, expanding to Imperator Caesar Marcus Opellius Severus Macrinus Augustus. Through this sequence, Macrinus claimed the supreme military title Imperator, the historical imperial designations Caesar and Augustus, and adopted the dynastic cognomen Severus to connect his rule formally to the prestigious Severan lineage. The reverse legend reads PONTIF MAX TR P COS P P, an abbreviation for Pontifex Maximus, Tribunicia Potestate, Consul, Pater Patriae. This concise accumulation of constitutional titles declares his position as chief priest of the state religion, holder of tribunician power, consul, and father of the country. Notably absent is any consular iteration numeral, indicating that the coin was struck before he entered his second consulship on January 1, AD 218. The letters S C placed in the field indicate that the bronze issue was struck under formal senatorial decree, an enduring constitutional mechanism that separated aes denominations from imperial precious-metal coinages.

Typology and Chronological Classification

RIC IV Macrinus 137 was cataloged by Harold Mattingly and Edward A. Sydenham in Roman Imperial Coinage, Volume IV, Part II, as a principal sestertius type of Macrinus's first issue. Chronologically, the type is bounded tightly by the emperor's accession in April AD 217 and his assumption of the second consulship on January 1, AD 218. The absence of COS II in the reverse inscription confirms that manufacture concluded within AD 217. In his numismatic studies of Macrinus's coinage, Curtis L. Clay established that the mint of Rome operated three distinct portrait phases for Macrinus: an initial phase featuring an idealized, short-bearded face resembling Caracalla or Antonine models; a secondary transitional phase; and a final phase characterized by a longer, pointed beard based on true life models. RIC IV Macrinus 137 appears predominantly with earlier and intermediate portrait treatments struck during the summer and autumn of AD 217, running parallel to matching silver denarius types bearing identical reverse iconography and legends.

Circulation, Hoarding, and Survival

Due to Macrinus's brief fourteen-month reign and the lack of massive bronze reminting campaigns in the capital during AD 217, the volume of RIC IV Macrinus 137 produced was modest compared to the extensive sestertius outputs of Septimius Severus or Caracalla. Sestertii of this type circulated primarily throughout Italy and the western European provinces, where base-metal denominations were in high daily demand. Evidence from site finds across Roman Britain, Gaul, the Germanies, and Mediterranean hoard contexts demonstrates that early third-century sestertii remained in circulation for decades after their issue, frequently surviving in worn state alongside later issues of Elagabalus and Severus Alexander until the broad collapse of bronze monetization in the mid-third century. Because of its brief striking window in late AD 217, RIC IV Macrinus 137 survived in limited numbers, providing modern scholars with a critical benchmark for urban mint activity and titular succession during the turbulent interlude of AD 217 to 218.

References

1. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, Volume V: Pertinax to Elagabalus. pp. 515-523
2. The Chronology and Typology of the Coinage of Macrinus, Numismatic Chronicle. pp. 21-40
3. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC IV Macrinus 137. ric.4.mcs.137
4. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Volume IV, Part II: Macrinus to Pupienus. pp. 14-16, no. 137