Macrinus Bronze Sestertius RIC IV Macrinus 157b

Monetary Context and Historical Setting

During the brief reign of Marcus Opellius Macrinus from April AD 217 to June AD 218, the Roman monetary system was subjected to both economic stress and strategic readjustment. Following the assassination of Caracalla near Carrhae, Macrinus was elevated to the purple by the military in the East. As the first emperor originating from the equestrian order rather than the Senate, Macrinus faced profound challenges to his legitimacy, requiring constant negotiation with both the legions and the traditional aristocracy in Rome. Economically, Caracalla's fiscal policies had heavily depleted the state treasury while leaving behind a debased silver currency and bloated military salaries. In response, Macrinus made early attempts to stabilize Roman precious metal coinage by restoring higher silver fineness to the denarius and curbing military expenditure. Nevertheless, bronze denominations remained central to daily municipal exchange, market commerce, and state disbursements across Italy and the western provinces. The sestertius, traditionally struck in brass or bronze, was the flagship heavy token coin of the Roman fiscal system. Although its intrinsic metal value was lower than its nominal tariff of four asses or one quarter of a denarius, it held extensive prestige. In the context of early AD 218, when Macrinus assumed his second consulship and entered his second tribunician power, political pressure reached critical intensity due to growing unrest in Syria orchestrated by the Severan women backing the young Elagabalus. The production of large bronze coins like RIC IV Macrinus 157b operated as both tangible currency and political propaganda, disseminating the regime's official titles and pledges of military fidelity throughout urban Italy and beyond.

Production and Mint Allocation

The issue RIC IV Macrinus 157b is attributed directly to the imperial mint at Rome. Even though Macrinus never visited Rome during his fourteen months of rule, remaining instead stationed in Antioch and Cilicia, the Rome mint continued to operate under the authority of the Senate and imperial officials, producing gold, silver, and bronze denominations on his behalf based on instructions dispatched from the imperial headquarters in the East. Production of sestertii at Rome during this period adhered to traditional heavy coin striking methods. Large, thick cast flans composed of copper alloy, predominantly brass (orichalcum) with variable quantities of tin and lead typical of third-century compositions, were heated and hand-struck between engraved iron dies. The Rome mint employed skilled die-engravers who initially worked from official descriptions or imperial model portraits sent from Antioch. By early AD 218, the mint's artists had developed a standardized, mature iconographic rendering of Macrinus, marked by a broad head, curly hair, and an extended, neat beard. The striking of sestertii required substantial physical striking power, frequently resulting in minor die shifts, edge irregularities, and variable centering, yet the output maintained the high artistic level characteristic of the Severan administrative tradition.

Obverse Iconography

The obverse of RIC IV Macrinus 157b presents the imperial bust of Macrinus facing to the right. He is shown wearing the laurel wreath of victory and imperial power, tied at the back of the neck with fluttering ribbons. Distinctive to this specific subtype, the bust is explicitly cuirassed, depicting the emperor in military armor covering the chest and shoulder. The cuirassed presentation emphasizes Macrinus's supreme command over the Roman armies, an essential visual statement for a ruler who lacked an aristocratic senatorial lineage and was actively campaigning in the eastern provinces. Numismatists categorize the portrait style of Macrinus into successive phases: early issues from AD 217 depict him with a shorter, more compact beard, whereas later issues from late 217 and 218 present a noticeably longer, philosophical or Severan-style beard, deliberately echoing the physical appearance of Septimius Severus and Marcus Aurelius. On RIC IV Macrinus 157b, the emperor is rendered in this mature, dignified manner, projecting sternness, experience, and military readiness.

Reverse Iconography and Symbolism

The reverse of RIC IV Macrinus 157b depicts Fides, the divine personification of faith, loyalty, and trustworthiness, which in military numismatics stood specifically for Fides Militum, the steadfast allegiance of the legions. She stands facing frontally with her head turned to the right. In each hand, she holds an upright military standard (signum), standard symbols of legionary cohesion, corporate identity, and battlefield honor. A vital diagnostic feature of this type is that Fides places her right foot upon a helmet resting on the ground. Placing the foot on a helmet or captive weapon is a classical Roman artistic motif signifying triumph, dominance, and peace achieved through military supremacy. By resting her foot upon a piece of armor, Fides visually conveys that victorious peace and domestic stability rest directly upon unwavering army loyalty. In the lower field, flanking the figure, appear the letters S and C (Senatus Consulto), confirming the traditional constitutional authority of the Senate in approving the bronze coinage issue. The overall design provided a powerful ideological appeal at a moment when legionary mutiny threatened the very survival of Macrinus's regime.

Legends and Epigraphy

The obverse legend of RIC IV Macrinus 157b reads IMP CAES M OPEL SEV MACRINVS AVG. This inscription is an abbreviation for Imperator Caesar Marcus Opellius Severus Macrinus Augustus. The prefix Imperator Caesar establishes his supreme military imperium and adoption into the imperial line. The inclusion of the family cognomen Severus represents a calculated dynastic claim; upon his elevation, Macrinus assumed the name Severus to tie his administration to the popular Severan dynasty and reassure soldiers still devoted to the memory of Septimius Severus and Caracalla. The closing title Augustus confirms his position as reigning princeps. The reverse legend is continuous around the upper perimeter: PONTIF MAX TR P II COS II P P, complemented by the letters S C across the lower fields. This text expands to Pontifex Maximus, Tribunicia Potestate II, Consul II, Pater Patriae. As chief priest (Pontifex Maximus), Macrinus maintained the ultimate religious authority in the Roman world. The designations TR P II and COS II provide precise chronological coordinates, dating the issue firmly to AD 218, following the renewal of his tribunician power and his entry into his second consulship on January 1, 218. The title Pater Patriae (Father of His Country), accepted by Macrinus during his reign, reinforces his role as protector of the state.

Typology and Chronological Classification

In the standard classification established by Harold Mattingly and Edward A. Sydenham in The Roman Imperial Coinage (Volume IV, Part II), Macrinus's bronze coinage is structured according to titular progression and reverse motifs. The broad type group RIC IV Macrinus 157 encompasses sestertii bearing the reverse legend PONTIF MAX TR P II COS II P P with Fides holding two standards and her foot placed on a helmet. Within this classification, RIC 157 is subdivided based on obverse bust drapery and armor variants: type 157a features a laureate and draped bust, while type 157b is strictly reserved for the laureate and cuirassed bust. Chronologically, this issue is restricted entirely to the early months of AD 218. Macrinus entered his second consulship on January 1, AD 218, alongside Marcus Oclatinius Adventus. The rebellion in favor of Elagabalus broke out near Emesa in May AD 218, and Macrinus was defeated at the Battle of Antioch on June 8, AD 218, dying shortly thereafter. Consequently, RIC 157b was produced during an exceptionally tight window of roughly five months (January to May or early June AD 218), after which the Rome mint ceased production for Macrinus and turned to prepare dies for Elagabalus.

Circulation, Hoards, and Survival

Because RIC IV Macrinus 157b was struck for only a few months during AD 218, its absolute production volume was limited compared to the massive bronze issues of the Antonines or Caracalla. Sestertii of Macrinus entered the regular Western and Italian monetary streams, circulating alongside older second-century bronze coins that remained in active use due to chronic shortages of new heavy copper coinage. Typical bronze coins of this era experienced extensive wear over decades, as they continued to circulate into the mid-third century until the debasement of the antoninianus drove older aes coinage out of common commercial use. Hoard evidence from across the Roman Empire indicates that Macrinus's bronze types appear in low percentages in Western site finds and deposits, primarily in Italy, the Rhine frontier, and the Danubian provinces. In the eastern provinces, local civic bronze currencies dominated low-denomination transactions, meaning Rome-minted sestertii like RIC 157b circulated predominantly in the West. Survived specimens of RIC 157b are generally scarce today, reflecting both the brevity of the minting window and the rapid political transition that rendered Macrinus's coinage obsolete shortly after release.

References

1. Le Buste Monetaire des Empereurs Romains. Vol. 1, pp. 245-248
2. The Coinage of Macrinus and Diadumenian. pp. 1-28
3. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, Volume V: Pertinax to Elagabalus. pp. 518-522
4. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC IV Macrinus 157b. ric.4.mcs.157b
5. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Volume IV, Part II: Macrinus to Pupienus. pp. 14-16, 21, no. 157b