Silver Denarius of Macrinus

Historical Context

Marcus Opellius Macrinus became emperor in April 217 CE after Caracalla's assassination while campaigning in the East. A former praetorian prefect of equestrian rank, he attained the principate without first belonging to the Senate. He remained in the eastern provinces during his reign and did not visit Rome.

His government faced war with Parthia and the financial burden of military expenditure. The settlement following the fighting at Nisibis and attempts to restrain the cost of new recruits contributed to the difficult political setting. In 218, the movement supporting Elagabalus challenged his authority. Macrinus was defeated near Antioch in June and was subsequently captured and killed.

His son Diadumenian was initially Caesar and was briefly elevated to Augustus in 218. Denarii naming Diadumenian form a distinct portrait series and should not be mistaken for those portraying his father.

Macrinus issued both denarii and antoniniani. The radiate denomination is documented by surviving coins; its existence rules out a description of his policy as immediate abolition. Denarii remained a major component of his imperial silver coinage. Cessation of a denomination's production, where established, is distinct from its withdrawal or demonetization.

Obverse: Iconographic Composition

The denarius normally shows Macrinus facing right with a laurel wreath, in draped, cuirassed, or combined draped and cuirassed bust treatments. The portrait is an important feature of attribution, alongside the legend and reverse.

The series includes short-bearded portraits, intermediate treatments, and more mature likenesses with a long, curling beard and pronounced facial features. Scholars use these differences to reconstruct the development of the official image. A stylistic progression does not, by itself, establish the month in which a die was cut.

Macrinus's absence from Rome provides context for discussion of portrait transmission, but it does not prove when particular models arrived from Syria. Exact portrait phases must be tied to a published die study rather than inferred solely from beard length.

Obverse: Epigraphy and Inscriptions

A characteristic Latin obverse legend on Macrinus's denarii is:

• Inscription: IMP C M OPEL SEV MACRINVS AVG
• Expansion: Imperator Caesar Marcus Opellius Severus Macrinus Augustus
• Translation: Imperator Caesar Marcus Opellius Severus Macrinus Augustus

The inscription surrounds the laureate portrait. IMP, C, and AVG express imperial titles, while SEV records the adopted name Severus. Spacing, breaks, abbreviation, and bust treatment must be compared when attributing a particular coin. This common formula should not be presented as proof that every denarius has identical lettering or that no substantive legend variants exist.

Reverse: Iconographic Composition

The reverse designs address imperial office, military loyalty, prosperity, security, and divine protection. Several families recur across the denarius series:

1. The Seated Emperor: Macrinus sits left on a curule chair, holding a globe and short sceptre. The design expresses magisterial and imperial authority and accompanies a titular reverse legend.
2. Fides: The personification of loyalty holds military standards. Orientation and additional attributes vary by type and must be matched to the complete reverse legend.
3. Felicitas and Securitas: Felicitas carries a caduceus and cornucopia; Securitas appears in a relaxed pose associated with a sceptre or column. These images invoke prosperity and stability.
4. Salus and Annona: Salus feeds a serpent with a patera, while Annona's grain ears, modius, and cornucopia evoke the food supply.
5. Jupiter: Jupiter holds a thunderbolt and sceptre. The IOVI CONSERVATORI type invokes divine protection; additional figures should be described only where recorded for the particular variety.
6. Parthian Victory: Victory imagery and the legend VICT PART present the regime's claims concerning the Parthian settlement. They are political representations, not independent evidence of an unqualified battlefield victory.

Reverse: Epigraphy and Inscriptions

Reverse legends combine imperial offices with dedications and personifications. The principal titular elements include P M or PONTIF MAX (Pontifex Maximus, chief priest), TR P (tribunician power), COS (consul), and P P (Father of the Fatherland).

Recorded formulas include PONTIF MAX TR P P P, VOTA PVBL P M TR P, PONTIF MAX TR P COS P P, and P M TR P II COS P P. TR P II denotes the second holding of tribunician power. COS and COS II require particular care: Dio reports that Macrinus refused to count his earlier consular rank as an actual first consulship. That testimony does not by itself establish the exact date or physical alteration of individual coin dies.

Other reverses use legends such as AEQVITAS AVG, FELICITAS TEMPORVM, FIDES MILITVM, IOVI CONSERVATORI, LIBERALITAS AVG, PROVIDENTIA DEORVM, SECVRITAS TEMPORVM, and SALVS PVBLICA. VICT PART, expanded as Victoria Parthica, claims Parthian victory. Undated virtue legends cannot be assigned to a specific month solely from their wording.

Typology and Documented Variants

Macrinus's denarii can be studied in broad groups defined by portrait style, reverse titulature, and die links. Published emission reconstructions are more precise than these descriptive groups and require consultation of the original study.

Accession and Early Religious Types

Short-bearded portraits occur with formulas invoking priestly office, tribunician power, and public vows. Fides, Felicitas, and Jupiter belong to the broader repertoire. These types express the new regime's legitimacy without establishing an exact production schedule from their themes alone.

Consular and Tribunician Types

Legends incorporating COS and TR P II provide chronological evidence alongside the portrait. Designs include Annona and the emperor seated on a curule chair. Complete legend readings and bust variants are essential when distinguishing related catalogue entries, including the RIC 27 group.

Virtue and Victory Types

Long-bearded portraits accompany a range of virtues and protective deities, including Aequitas, Salus, Securitas, and Jupiter. Parthian victory legends advertise the eastern settlement. The presence of an undated virtue legend does not establish that a coin belongs exclusively to a final emission in spring 218.

The series is imperial silver coinage and must be kept distinct from provincial tetradrachms naming Macrinus. Denarii portraying Diadumenian likewise retain their separate named authority and changing Caesar or Augustus status.

Scholarly Debates and Attribution Limitations

Several questions require careful separation of evidence and interpretation:

1. Mint Attribution: Modern study of the imperial series places regular denarius production at Rome. Earlier assignments to an eastern mint should be evaluated against die links and the chronology of portrait styles. This attribution does not imply that Macrinus issued no provincial silver in the East.
2. Consular Titles: Dio's account of Macrinus's refusal of a second consulship is relevant to COS and COS II. The literary passage does not demonstrate that an engraver made a mistake on a particular date, that existing dies were physically corrected, or that every coin follows one simple sequence.
3. Metallurgy: A museum or catalogue designation of silver identifies the material category, not a measured percentage. The supposed Butcher-Ponting 2015 study establishing a stable 50-55% alloy for Macrinus is not a verified publication. Their actual Nero-to-Trajan monograph covers a different chronological range. Neither a fixed fineness target nor a series-wide weight range is established here.
4. Emission Dating: The date of tribunician renewal and the boundaries of portrait or issue groups require direct numismatic and epigraphic evidence. Month-by-month tables should not be reconstructed from the ruler's biography or from beard length alone.

References

1. Roman History, Book 79. Cassius Dio, Roman History 79.11-15 (Loeb Classical Library edition, trans. Earnest Cary).
2. The Roman Coinage of Macrinus and Diadumenian. Curtis L. Clay, Numismatische Zeitschrift 93 (1979), pp. 21-40. Article existence and starting page verified in the University of Vienna index; detailed emission and die-link assertions require the article itself.
3. Die Bildnisse des Macrinus. Dieter Salzmann, Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts 98 (1983), pp. 351-383. Corrected pagination from the author's University of Muenster bibliography.
4. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: Macrinus. OCRE ric.4.mcs.27a, curule-chair type lead; original RIC subletter/bust attribution not independently reverified because direct access was unavailable. Independent institutional denarius catalogue: National Museum Belgrade, Numizmaticar 38, Dvorska hoard, cat. 30, RIC IV.2 Macrinus 73: https://www.digitalnaizdanja.narodnimuzej.rs/Download/numizmaticar/Numizmaticar%2038.pdf.
5. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Volume IV, Part II: Macrinus to Pupienus. Harold Mattingly, Edward A. Sydenham, and C. H. V. Sutherland, London: Spink & Son, 1938. Linked OCRE entry is a digital type companion, not online access to all cited printed pages.
6. The Metallurgy of Roman Silver Coinage: From the Reform of Nero to the Reform of Trajan. Kevin Butcher and Matthew Ponting (2014/2015). Publisher preface and contents; chronological scope excludes a demonstrated Macrinus alloy standard. Contextual further reading, not a Macrinus assay citation.
7. Berlin Muenzkabinett: Macrinus Antoninianus, RIC IV.2 63d. Institutional object 18316517; Macrinus, Rome, 217/218, radiate bust and FELICITAS TEMPORVM. Confirms issue of antoniniani; not evidence for the precise date of their cessation.