Macrinus Silver Denarius, RIC IV Macrinus 36

Monetary Context and Denominational Setting

The accession of Marcus Opellius Macrinus in April 217 AD marked a critical turning point in third-century Roman monetary history. Following the assassination of Caracalla near Carrhae, Macrinus became the first equestrian to achieve the imperial purple. He inherited an empire strained by massive military subsidies, extensive campaigns in Parthia, and an unstable monetary system. Caracalla had altered the imperial denominational structure in 215 AD by introducing the radiate double denarius, conventionally termed the antoninianus, which was tariffed at two denarii but minted at approximately 1.5 times the weight of a standard silver denarius, thus representing a hidden devaluation. Alongside this new denomination, Caracalla had lowered the fineness of the denarius itself to around fifty percent silver or slightly below. Upon seizing authority, Macrinus faced profound fiscal challenges, including the necessity of funding substantial accession donatives to the legionaries without exacerbating runaway inflation. In response, his administration enacted an ambitious fiscal retrenchment. The Rome mint significantly curtailed, and eventually halted, production of the newly introduced radiate antoninianus, shifting the principal silver output back to the traditional denarius. Numismatic analyses demonstrate that Macrinus deliberately enhanced the intrinsic metallurgical quality of the silver denarius, raising its mean fineness to approximately fifty-five to fifty-eight percent silver. Denarii struck under the authority of RIC IV Macrinus 36 belong precisely to this brief monetary stabilization phase, serving as standard transactional coinage while carrying high-status imperial ideological messaging to civilian and military populations alike.

Production Standards and Mint Attribution

The catalogue type RIC IV Macrinus 36 was struck exclusively at the principal imperial mint in Rome. Throughout Macrinus's brief fourteen-month reign, imperial coin production was divided between two major minting centers: the ancestral mint at Rome and a mobile or newly organized branch workshop in Syria, traditionally identified as Antioch. While the Syrian mint operated under direct proximity to the emperor and primarily addressed the acute monetary demands of the Eastern military legions, the Rome mint continued to operate under the senatorial administration and equestrian procurators, executing traditional coin types derived from official imperial dispatches. Denarii of this specific type conform to the typical physical parameters of early third-century Roman silver production. While individual flans naturally vary due to manual pouring and striking, denarii from the Rome mint in this period were targeted at a theoretical standard of approximately 96 coins to the Roman pound (libra), yielding an expected median weight of roughly 3.10 to 3.25 grams, with typical diameters ranging between 18 and 20 millimeters. Die alignment was predominantly regulated, frequently adhering to an upright or near-upright axis (approximately 12 or 6 o'clock). Dies were engraved with crisp, disciplined lettering and detailed figural modeling characteristic of the veteran artisans of the urban Rome workshops. Blanks were cast in spherical or flattened molds and struck between hand-held intaglio dies, with the reverse quadriga scene requiring exceptional striking pressure to fully articulate the multi-layered figures of the horses, the chariot box, the emperor, and the crowning Victory.

Obverse Iconography and Imperial Portraiture

The obverse of RIC IV Macrinus 36 presents a right-facing bust of Macrinus, wearing a laurel wreath and dressed in military cuirass (cuirassed bust right). The engraving captures the distinctive portrait typology that developed over the course of Macrinus's tenure. Numismatists divide Macrinus's portraits into successive phases: an initial group featuring a short, closely cropped military beard resembling the martial styling of Caracalla, and a subsequent mature group displaying a prominently longer, fuller beard, frequently accompanied by slightly aged facial contours and more individualistic features. On RIC IV Macrinus 36, the portrait conforms to this mature typological phase, showcasing the emperor with a well-developed, elongated beard. Macrinus deliberately adapted his public likeness to project philosophical gravity, senior administrative dignity, and seasoned maturity, seeking to distance himself from the erratic youthful aggression of Caracalla while still preserving the martial legitimacy denoted by the cuirass and laurel wreath. The cuirass represents his supreme command over the Roman legions, rendered with plate details and leather shoulder straps (pteruges), reinforcing his role as imperator despite his absence from the capital and his equestrian administrative origin.

Reverse Iconography: The Imperial Quadriga

The reverse of RIC IV Macrinus 36 depicts one of the most prominent ceremonial compositions of the Roman imperial repertoire: the emperor riding in a slow four-horse chariot (quadriga) advancing toward the left. Macrinus stands elevated within the ornamented chariot box, clad in the ceremonial robes appropriate to an imperial magistrate. In his right hand, he extends a laurel branch, a universal symbol of peace, victory, and civic benevolence. In his left hand, he holds an eagle-tipped sceptre (scipio), the ancient emblem of consular and triumphal authority derived from Roman republican and early imperial state ceremonies. Directly behind the emperor stands a diminutive, draped figure of winged Victory, who reaches forward with her right arm to place a laurel wreath upon his head. The quadriga moves at a deliberate walking pace, indicated by the staggered, synchronized posture of the four horses. This compositional format, often designated in numismatic literature as a pompa or procession, combines consular and triumphal motifs. While quadriga types in prior reigns frequently commemorated specific military triumphs celebrated in Rome, Macrinus's quadriga served as an idealized virtual ceremony. Because Macrinus never visited Rome during his reign, the depiction on the denarius functioned as a symbolic substitute, reassuring the Senate and people of Rome of the emperor's legitimate assumption of high state offices and divine martial blessing.

Epigraphic Evidence and Titulature

The inscriptions on RIC IV Macrinus 36 provide indispensable evidence for dating and imperial messaging. The obverse legend reads IMP C M OPEL SEV MACRINVS AVG, expanding in Latin epigraphy as Imperator Caesar Marcus Opellius Severus Macrinus Augustus. Upon his elevation, Macrinus assumed the praenomen of Imperator and the imperial titles Caesar and Augustus. Significantly, he adopted the cognomen Severus to advertise a synthetic continuity with the Severan dynasty founded by Septimius Severus, attempting to legitimize his accession among the legions who retained intense loyalty to the Severan bloodline. The reverse legend reads PONTIF MAX TR P II COS P P, an epigraphic abbreviation representing Pontifex Maximus, Tribunicia Potestate II, Consul, Pater Patriae. Each element carries constitutional weight. Pontifex Maximus affirms his position as the supreme head of Roman state religion. TR P II indicates his second tenure of tribunician power, marking the renewal of his civil constitutional authority. COS documents his status as consul, while P P (Pater Patriae, Father of his Country) reflects the honorary title voted to him by the Senate. The combination of TR P II and COS is crucial to numismatic chronology, confirming the coin was struck when Macrinus held his second tribunician power alongside his consular authority.

Typology, Dating, and Chronological Placement

Establishing the precise chronology of RIC IV Macrinus 36 requires reconciling imperial titulature with historical events between 217 and 218 AD. Macrinus was acclaimed emperor on April 11, 217 AD, at which point he received his first tribunician power (TR P). In standard Roman imperial practice of this period, tribunician renewals occurred either on the anniversary of accession or, as was standard for the Rome mint, on December 10 (or January 1 in alternative fiscal models). Consequently, Macrinus entered his second tribunician period (TR P II) in late autumn or early winter of 217 AD. Concurrently, Macrinus accepted the ordinary consulship for the year 218 AD, an honor officially assumed on January 1, 218 AD. However, in late 217 AD, preparations for the upcoming consular year were already underway at the Rome mint, where engravers anticipated his assumption of the fasces or recorded his receipt of ornamenta consularia. The legend PONTIF MAX TR P II COS P P on RIC IV 36 is traditionally dated by Harold Mattingly and modern corpora to the final weeks of 217 AD, representing either an anticipatory consular issue or an immediate response to the December 217 AD tribunician renewal. The type is closely related to neighboring issues depicting seated deities or military trophies, but the slow quadriga stands out as an explicitly ceremonial type commemorating his new state appointments and the hopes for public stability entering 218 AD.

Distribution, Hoard Context, and Circulation

Although RIC IV Macrinus 36 was produced as part of regular state currency, its survival rate is relatively modest compared to the vast denarius issues of the earlier Severan emperors or the later reign of Severus Alexander. Macrinus's reign lasted only fourteen months, terminating with his defeat by forces loyal to Elagabalus near Antioch in June 218 AD. As a result, the total volume of coinage struck in his name was constrained by his brief duration in power, and issues bearing the specific formula TR P II COS represent only a small fraction of his overall output. In hoards across the western and Danubian provinces, Macrinus's denarii appear consistently but in small numbers, usually comprising less than two to three percent of third-century silver deposits such as the shapwick, Falkirk, or Reka Devnia hoards. The improved silver fineness of Macrinus's denarii made them attractive for hoarding and selective melting during subsequent periods of acute currency debasement under the later Severans and the soldier emperors of the mid-third century. Nevertheless, because Macrinus was subjected to damnatio memoriae after his overthrow, official melting or civilian suspicion may have curtailed the visibility of his portraiture, though his denarii continued to circulate as bullion weight alongside earlier imperial silver well into the 240s and 250s AD.

References

1. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, Volume V: Pertinax to Elagabalus. pp. 501-503
2. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC IV Macrinus 36. ric.4.mcs.36
3. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Volume IV, Part II: Macrinus to Pupienus. p. 10, no. 36