Macrinus Bronze Sestertius, RIC IV Macrinus 205

Monetary Context and Denominational Role

The sestertius had long served as the backbone of high-denomination everyday transactions and public accounting in imperial Rome since the Augustan monetary settlement. By the accession of Macrinus in AD 217, the Roman monetary system was experiencing profound structural pressures stemming from the debasement of silver coinage and the escalating costs of military pay. Caracalla had previously introduced the double denarius, or antoninianus, which accelerated inflationary pressures and tightened the fiscal demands placed upon imperial mints. Within this shifting framework, the brass sestertius preserved its crucial function as the primary bridge between token bronze fractional coinage and precious-metal issues. Nominally valued at four asses or two dupondii, and representing one quarter of a silver denarius, the sestertius remained an essential vehicle for state expenditures in Italy and the western provinces. Because the sestertius was tariffed above its intrinsic metallurgical worth, it acted as a fiduciary coin whose acceptance rested upon imperial authority and the historic imprimatur of the Senate. The issuance of RIC IV Macrinus 205 reflected the regime's urgent requirement to assert fiscal normalcy and administrative continuity. Sestertii of Macrinus supplied market liquidity and enabled commercial exchanges in urban centers where base-metal denominations were in constant demand. Despite fiscal strains, the mint at Rome maintained substantial flan weights and diameter standards for the denomination, providing the population with coins of familiar physical substance.

Mint Organization and Production Techniques

RIC IV Macrinus 205 was struck exclusively at the imperial mint in Rome. Throughout his fourteen-month reign, Macrinus remained in the East, directing administrative and military affairs from Antioch and northern Syria without ever visiting the capital. Consequently, the senatorial monetary magistrates and mint officials in Rome operated under standing bureaucratic procedures, preparing dies and executing strikings based on imperial dispatches and official portrait models dispatched from the imperial headquarters. Manufactured from orichalcum, a golden copper-zinc alloy, or a related leaded bronze alloy typical of third-century large base metals, the blanks for RIC IV Macrinus 205 were cast in circular open molds before being hand-struck between engraved dies. Die engravers at Rome operated within organized workshops, or officinae, coordinating the production of obverse portrait dies with appropriate reverse personification types. Striking large sestertius flans required significant kinetic energy, often delivered by multiple blows with a heavy hammer. This high-impact process frequently resulted in slight die shifts, irregular rim borders, or peripheral beveling. Weight standards for these sestertii clustered broadly between 20 and 25 grams, with typical diameters ranging between 30 and 33 millimeters. Alignment of the dies was normally set to a median vertical orientation, conforming to the predominant six o'clock or twelve o'clock die axis characteristic of third-century Roman mint output.

Obverse Portraiture and Iconographic Evolution

The obverse of RIC IV Macrinus 205 features a right-facing bust of Macrinus wearing a laurel wreath and dressed in military cuirass. The depiction captures the mature emperor, who was in his early fifties when he came to power. The engraving of Macrinus's features presents a notable stylistic trajectory during his brief rule, transitioning through distinct phases identified by numismatists based on beard length and facial structure. In the earliest issues produced at Rome immediately after the receipt of the news of Caracalla's death, the engravers lacked an authentic likeness of the new ruler. As a result, early dies frequently imparted features reminiscent of Caracalla or stylized facial contours. Once reliable imperial busts arrived from the East, the Rome mint executed a refined portrait exhibiting a prominent nose, deeply etched brow, and a neatly trimmed, short beard. Later in the reign, dies increasingly rendered Macrinus with a markedly longer, fuller beard, aligned with philosophical and military conventions. The cuirassed bust served an essential political message, underscoring his position as commander-in-chief, or imperator, an identity that Macrinus was anxious to reinforce given his equestrian background and lack of senatorial ancestry.

Reverse Typology: Securitas at the Altar

The reverse design of this sestertius features Securitas, the divine personification of safety, public confidence, and civil tranquility. She is depicted draped in traditional stola and mantle, seated upon a low-backed chair or throne facing toward the left. In her right hand, she holds an upright sceptre, symbolizing rightful authority and imperial command. Her left arm rests against her seat or propped elbow, with her hand supporting her head in a recognized classical posture indicating complete rest, ease, and absence of anxiety. Positioned immediately before her feet stands a slender, lighted altar. The presence of this burning sacrificial altar adds an explicit religious dimension to the type, emphasizing that security was not merely an earthly political achievement, but a blessing safeguarded through regular piety and correct ritual observance toward the gods. In the fields to the left and right of the seated figure, the letters S and C appear, denoting Senatus Consulto. This long-standing formula affirmed that the base-metal issue was produced by authority of the Senate, maintaining a constitutional convention that dated back to the reign of Augustus.

Epigraphy and Imperial Titulature

The obverse inscription on RIC IV Macrinus 205 reads IMP CAES M OPEL SEV MACRINVS AVG. This epigraphic formula articulates the full suite of honors adopted by the emperor upon his elevation. The opening titles Imperator and Caesar denote supreme military command and sovereign dignity. The middle elements present his nomen and cognomina: Marcus Opellius Macrinus, expanded by the adoption of the prestigious name Severus (abbreviated SEV). By incorporating the name Severus into his official nomenclature, Macrinus sought to establish a fictitious lineage with the popular dynasty of Septimius Severus and Caracalla, reassuring the legions and the civilian populace of dynastic continuity. The reverse legend is rendered as SECVRITAS TEMPORVM, which translates as 'The Security of the Times.' This motto formed an integral part of the political rhetoric of the reign. Following the arbitrary terror and military instability of Caracalla's final months, the regime of Macrinus advertised an era of constitutional legality, domestic stability, and peace. The integration of this legend with the senatorial sanction S C served to reinforce the mutual accord between the equestrian emperor and the senatorial order in Rome.

Typological Variants and Chronological Placement

RIC IV Macrinus 205 occupies a defined place within the broader series of Securitas coinages struck for Macrinus. While silver denarii and gold aurei bore similar reverse iconography, the large copper-alloy sestertius presented this scene on an expansive module. Within the classification established in The Roman Imperial Coinage, type 205 is distinguished specifically by the combination of the laureate, cuirassed bust facing right, the seated pose of Securitas with sceptre and altar, and the legend SECVRITAS TEMPORVM. Related issues struck concurrently include variants where Securitas stands rather than sits, leaning against a column, or issues where the emperor's portrait is depicted laureate and draped rather than purely cuirassed (such as RIC IV Macrinus 204). Chronologically, the emission spans from mid AD 217 into early AD 218. In his seminal study of the coinage of Macrinus, Curtis Clay demonstrated that the short-bearded portraits on this reverse belong to the middle production phases of AD 217, whereas specimens exhibiting the longer, mature beard were struck in late AD 217 and early AD 218. The type ceased production following the defeat and execution of Macrinus near Archelais in Cappadocia in June AD 218.

Circulation, Hoarding, and Historical Fate

Sestertii of Macrinus circulated primarily throughout Italy, the Rhine frontier, and the Danubian provinces, where base-metal currency was in heavy daily demand for civilian commerce and troop stipends. Due to the brief duration of his reign, spanning just under fourteen months, the total volume of sestertii produced for Macrinus was small compared to the prolific issues of the Severan emperors before him and the subsequent issues of Elagabalus and Severus Alexander. Following the accession of Elagabalus in the summer of AD 218, the memory of Macrinus was subjected to damnatio memoriae by the Senate. While formal eradication targeted imperial inscriptions, monuments, and official statues, bronze coins were rarely systematically melted down on an immediate institutional scale. Instead, sestertii of RIC IV Macrinus 205 remained in active circulation for several decades, gradually wearing down alongside older Severan and Antonine bronze pieces. Hoard evidence from western European findspots indicates that Macrinus's sestertii continued to surface in third-century coin hoards deposited during the political crises of the AD 250s and 260s, testifying to the enduring utility of base-metal denominations regardless of dynastic changes.

References

1. I Grandi Bronzi Imperiali: Macrinus, Diadumenianus, Elagabalus. Vol. IV, Parte 1
2. The Chronology of the Coinage of Macrinus, Numismatische Zeitschrift 93. pp. 21-40
3. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC IV Macrinus 205. ric.4.mcs.205
4. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Vol. IV, Part II: Macrinus to Pupienus. p. 21, no. 205