Macrinus Orichalcum Sestertius, RIC IV Macrinus 148

Monetary Context

The monetary system of the early third century AD continued the denominations established under Augustus and modified by the Severan dynasty. Within the imperial bronze and brass hierarchy, the sestertius remained the principal large-module coin used for substantial everyday domestic transactions, state payments, and commercial accounting. Valued at one quarter of a silver denarius or four copper asses, the sestertius functioned as the premier public canvas for state messaging due to its expansive flan and wide circulation across Italy and the western provinces. By AD 217, the Roman monetary landscape faced intensifying economic pressures, including the fiscal exhaustion caused by Caracalla's massive military expenditures, pay increases to the legions, and the introduction of the radiate double denarius in AD 215. When Macrinus assumed the purple in April AD 217 following Caracalla's murder near Carrhae, he confronted an empty treasury and demanding legions. While Macrinus sought to stabilize the silver coinage by adjusting fineness back toward pre-Caracallan norms, base-metal production continued at Rome under traditional senatorial oversight denoted by Senatus Consulto. RIC IV Macrinus 148 emerged directly out of this volatile transitional period, functioning as a primary medium through which the absent equestrian emperor communicated his political legitimacy and imperial virtues to the Senate and the Roman urban populace.

Production and Mints

RIC IV Macrinus 148 was produced exclusively by the imperial mint at Rome. Although Macrinus himself remained in the eastern provinces throughout his reign, wintering at Antioch and directing operations in Mesopotamia, the centralized administration of imperial aes coinage remained firmly rooted in the capital. The production of sestertii required substantial resources, including cast brass blanks, typically termed orichalcum, consisting of copper alloyed with zinc, though by the Severan era the alloy increasingly incorporated secondary amounts of tin and lead from recycled metal supplies. Die preparation for this issue was carried out by the seasoned engravers of the metropolitan workshops. These artisans had spent the previous two decades cutting dies for Septimius Severus and Caracalla, and they initially worked from official models or written physical descriptions sent westward from the imperial court in Syria. Individual specimens of sestertii from this period exhibit broad flans typically measuring between 29 and 33 millimeters in diameter, with nominal target weights generally clustering in the range of 20 to 26 grams, though broad weight tolerances were customary in ancient aes manufacture. Die alignment was predominantly adjusted to a regular vertical or near-vertical axis, conforming to standard Roman mint procedure.

Obverse Design and Portraiture

The obverse of RIC IV Macrinus 148 depicts the emperor's bust facing right, fully decorated with a laurel wreath, drapery, and cuirass. In Roman imperial iconography, the laurel wreath symbolized victorious imperium and divinely sanctioned rule, while the combination of paludamentum and cuirass stressed both civic majesty and active supreme military command. The portraiture of Macrinus on this issue reflects the refined realistic style characteristic of the Rome mint in late AD 217. Surviving dies display a mature man with a squared jaw, a carefully trimmed, cropped beard, and close-cropped curly hair receding slightly at the temples. Numismatists have noted that while the earliest eastern issues of Macrinus portrayed him with features heavily reminiscent of Caracalla, the metropolitan celators quickly refined his appearance into an individualized portrait conveying gravitas and sober restraint. The drapery folds across the breast and shoulder are cut with considerable plastic depth, resting over the anatomical plates of the cuirass, presenting an imposing image of imperial authority tailored to reassure senatorial sensibilities in Rome.

Reverse Iconography

The reverse of the type features the emperor seated to the left upon a sella curulis, the ivory curule chair that served as the ancient Roman curule magistrate's formal seat of authority. Macrinus is depicted in civic or ceremonial dress, extending his right hand to balance a globe, while his left hand holds a short, upright sceptre. The globe, a longstanding motif of Roman cosmological iconography, proclaimed the emperor's stewardship over the inhabited world, or orbis terrarum, and his role in upholding universal order. The short sceptre, distinctly smaller than the long staff often carried by deities such as Jupiter or Juno, served as a traditional insignia of consular and regal authority. The curule chair reinforced constitutional legitimacy, connecting the new equestrian ruler to ancient republican magistracies and the civil majesty of the consulship. Flanking the seated figure in the lower fields are the large letters S and C, denoting Senatus Consulto, the historic affirmation that the brass coinage was produced with senatorial sanction. The composition balances formal symmetry with imperial presence, projecting stability, peaceful governance, and cosmological harmony amidst intense frontier conflict.

Inscriptions and Epigraphy

The inscriptions on RIC IV Macrinus 148 convey concise constitutional and ideological declarations. The obverse legend reads IMP CAES M OPEL SEV MACRINVS AVG in an unbroken circle along the rim. This formula translates as Imperator Caesar Marcus Opellius Severus Macrinus Augustus. The inclusion of the cognomen Severus represents a calculated political adoption designed to present Macrinus as the rightful heir and preserver of the Severan dynasty, placating the military units that remained fiercely loyal to the memory of Septimius Severus and Caracalla. The reverse inscription reads P M TR P II COS P P, abbreviated from Pontifex Maximus, Tribunicia Potestate Secundum, Consul, Pater Patriae. This sequence enumerates his constitutional powers: Supreme Pontiff, invested with Tribunician Power for the second time, Consul, and Father of his Country. In the lower left and right fields of the reverse, the letters S and C provide the customary senatorial authorization. Epigraphically, the lettering conforms to the classical capital script of the metropolitan mint, with sharp serifs, uniform letter heights, and well-proportioned spacing designed to frame the primary iconography seamlessly.

Types and Chronology

The precise chronological placement of RIC IV Macrinus 148 is defined by its reverse titulature, specifically the renewal of the tribunician power recorded as TR P II. Macrinus seized power on 11 April AD 217 and immediately received the first conferral of tribunician power, TR P. In Roman imperial epigraphy and administrative practice at the capital, the tribunician power was customarily renewed either on the anniversary of accession or on a fixed calendar date. Major numismatic studies, notably the work of Curtis Clay, demonstrate that the mint of Rome observed the traditional renewal of tribunician power on 10 December. Consequently, coins bearing the legend TR P II were initiated in December AD 217. Because Macrinus assumed his first ordinary consulship on 1 January AD 218 alongside Adventus, coins struck before that date typically read COS rather than COS II, though some scholars have debated whether COS in this context reflects designation or active tenure. The consensus of modern scholarship and the standard catalogue assignation place the issue of RIC 148 to the close of AD 217. This brief emission belonged to Macrinus's second official coinage issue at Rome, preceding the final series struck in early AD 218 that bore updated consular titles and eventually closed with the arrival of Elagabalus's partisans in the summer of AD 218.

Circulation and Monetary Role

As a sestertius struck in substantial volume during late AD 217, RIC IV Macrinus 148 circulated primarily within the western provinces and the Italian peninsula, where base-metal currency formed the core of local market transactions. Sestertii of the Severan period typically enjoyed prolonged active circulation lifespans, remaining in commercial use for decades until worn flat or demonetized by third-century monetary reforms. However, the total emission of Macrinus's aes coinage was naturally constrained by the brief duration of his reign, which ended with his defeat and death outside Antioch in June AD 218. In archaeological contexts across Roman Europe, including military sites along the Rhine and Danube frontiers and civilian urban centres in Italy and Gaul, coins of Macrinus appear in small numbers compared to the vast surviving issues of Marcus Aurelius, Commodus, or Septimius Severus. Hoard evidence indicates that brass sestertii of Macrinus were not systematically recalled or melted down following his damnatio memoriae; rather, they continued to circulate alongside other third-century imperial aes issues until the gradual collapse of large-bronze circulation during the monetary crises of the AD 260s.

References

1. The Chronology of the Reign of Macrinus (1979). Numismatic Chronicle, Seventh Series, Vol. 19, pp. 21-40
2. The Imperial Titulature of Macrinus. Numismatic Chronicle, pp. 41-48
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. 1-22, no. 148
5. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC IV Macrinus 148. ric.4.mcs.148