Macrinus Silver Denarius RIC IV Macrinus 5b

Monetary Context

The monetary landscape of AD 217 was heavily shaped by the fiscal crises and currency experiments inherited from the Severan dynasty. Caracalla had expanded military pay and undertaken costly campaigns, financing his expenditures through the progressive debasement of the traditional silver denarius and the introduction of the radiate antoninianus, or double denarius, in AD 215. Upon seizing power following Caracalla's death near Carrhae, Macrinus faced pressing financial liabilities, including promised military donatives and the settlement of the Parthian campaign. Despite these monetary stresses, Macrinus initiated an immediate reform of the silver coinage. Denominational output during his brief reign saw a notable cessation of the antoninianus in favor of the traditional denarius, accompanied by an intentional restoration of silver fineness. Analyses of Severan and post-Severan hoards indicate that the average silver content of the denarius rose from roughly 50 percent under Caracalla to approximately 55 to 58 percent under Macrinus. RIC IV Macrinus 5b represents an early manifestation of this monetary adjustment, produced to establish the fiscal and symbolic presence of the new princeps in the capital and the wider empire.

Production and Mints

RIC IV Macrinus 5b was produced exclusively by the imperial mint in Rome. Because Macrinus remained in the eastern provinces throughout his reign and never entered the capital city, the mint at Rome operated on senatorial recognition and dispatches forwarded from the emperor's headquarters in Antioch. The physical production was executed across multiple workshops, or officinae, operating under established mint practices. Dies were engraved by artisans who had previously fashioned portraiture for Caracalla and Septimius Severus. The flans for this denarius were cast in open molds or poured into spherical blanks and hammered hot, yielding finished coins that typically conformed to the contemporary weight standard of roughly 3.1 to 3.3 grams. The die alignment generally adhered to an upright or near-upright vertical axis characteristic of third-century Roman imperial issues. Although Antioch also operated as a major imperial minting facility under Macrinus, issues carrying the specific reverse layout of RIC IV Macrinus 5b are securely assigned to the Rome mint based on distinct stylistic traits, letterforms, and portrait engraving conventions.

Obverse Design and Portraiture

The obverse of RIC IV Macrinus 5b features the right-facing bust of Macrinus wearing a laurel wreath and dressed in military cuirass. A distinguishing hallmark of this first emission from the Rome mint is the emperor's facial treatment, characterized by a closely cropped, short beard and a compact hairstyle. Because the engravers in Rome lacked immediate physical access to Macrinus, early dies adapted established conventions of seasoned equestrian and military commanders, occasionally borrowing stylistic echoes from late portraits of Caracalla while smoothing away Caracalla's aggressive frown. The cuirass, decorated with visible chest plates and shoulder fastenings, emphasizes the martial authority required of an emperor elevated directly by the legions. The laurel wreath symbolizes imperatorial triumph, its ties falling neatly behind the nape of the neck. Later issues from the Rome mint progressively transitioned toward a longer, fuller philosopher-style beard, making the cropped beard on RIC IV Macrinus 5b a critical diagnostic marker for assigning the issue to the initial months of the reign in AD 217.

Reverse Iconography

The reverse of the coin presents a complex religious and political tableau featuring Jupiter and the emperor. Jupiter stands facing left, depicted nude except for a cloak draped over his left arm. In his right hand, the supreme deity holds a thunderbolt directed downward, while his left hand rests upon a tall vertical sceptre. Standing at the god's feet on the left is a small figure of Macrinus, depicted in profile turned to the right. Unlike his armed obverse portrait, the emperor on the reverse wears the traditional civil toga and raises his right hand in an attitude of supplication or reception. This composition directly evokes the motif of Jupiter Conservator or Jupiter Custos, casting the supreme Olympian deity as the personal guardian and legitimatizing force behind the princeps. The visual juxtaposition of the towering god and the diminished, togate ruler serves a dual ideological purpose: it asserts divine protection over the nascent administration while visually communicating the emperor's modest, deferential role toward religious obligations and the civic welfare of the Roman populus.

Legends and Epigraphy

The inscriptions on RIC IV Macrinus 5b are executed in standard Roman capital epigraphy, displaying the clean lettering style typical of the early third-century Rome mint. The obverse reads IMP C M OPEL SEV MACRINVS AVG, expanding to Imperator Caesar Marcus Opellius Severus Macrinus Augustus. The inclusion of the cognomen Severus represents an explicit political claim, as Macrinus formally adopted the name to link his regime fictitiously or nominally with the preceding Severan dynasty to appease the praetorians and legions. The reverse legend reads VOTA PVBL P M TR P, an abbreviation for Vota Publica, Pontifex Maximus, Tribunicia Potestate. This legend proclaims the public vows undertaken by the state for the emperor's preservation and safety, while recording his foundational constitutional titles as high priest and holder of the tribunician power. The absence of an iterative numeral following TR P confirms that the coin was struck during his first tribunician period, precisely dating the issue prior to his assumed second renewal (TR P II) on January 1, AD 218.

Typology and Chronology

Within the typology established by Harold Mattingly and Edward A. Sydenham in The Roman Imperial Coinage, RIC IV Macrinus 5b forms an integral component of the first coinage emission produced for Macrinus at Rome. The broader type RIC 5 encompasses variants distinguished primarily by drapery and cuirass arrangements on the obverse bust; variant 5b is strictly defined by the laureate, cuirassed bust without accompanying drapery, paired with the cropped-beard portrait style. Chronologically, the type was struck between Macrinus's accession in April AD 217 and the conclusion of that calendar year. It belongs to an ideological group of inauguration issues that focused on traditional divine protection (Fides Militum, Jupiter, and Salus) and the formal celebration of public vows. As the administrative apparatus prepared for the new consular year in AD 218, the reverse legends at Rome transitioned to incorporate COS and TR P II, bringing an end to the striking of the uniterated TR P series and rendering RIC IV Macrinus 5b a tightly bounded issue of AD 217.

Circulation and Monetary Survival

Coins of RIC IV Macrinus 5b circulated throughout the Roman provinces and along the militarized frontiers, though their production run was curtailed by Macrinus's overthrow in June AD 218 after a reign of barely fourteen months. Because of this brief duration, denarii of Macrinus constitute a comparatively small percentage of third-century hoard finds when measured against the prolific outputs of Septimius Severus, Caracalla, or Severus Alexander. Nevertheless, the improved silver purity of Macrinus's denarii meant they were readily accepted and retained in general currency. Hoard data from Britain, Gaul, the Rhine-Danube limes, and the Levant show that early denarii of Macrinus circulated alongside older Severan denarii for several decades, frequently surviving in hoards deposited during the tumultuous reigns of the mid-third century. Wear patterns on recovered specimens demonstrate substantial commercial movement, indicating that despite their initial programmatic nature as public vow commemorative issues, these denarii functioned as routine working money in imperial trade and military disbursements.

References

1. The Roman Coinage of Macrinus and Diadumenian. Numismatische Zeitschrift 93, pp. 21-40
2. The Severan Monetary Reforms and Hoard Composition in the Third Century. Revue Numismatique 163, pp. 121-140
3. Coining Images of Power: Patterns in the Representation of Roman Emperors on Imperial Coinage, A.D. 193-284. pp. 145-168
4. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, Vol. V: Pertinax to Elagabalus. pp. 498-502
5. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC IV Macrinus 5b. ric.4.mcs.5b
6. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Vol. IV, Part II: Macrinus to Pupienus. pp. 5-7, no. 5b