Macrinus Silver Denarius, RIC IV Macrinus 84

Monetary Context and Ideology

The accession of Macrinus in April 217 AD marked an unexpected interlude in Severan dynastic rule, as he became the first emperor from the equestrian order to attain imperial power. Upon taking office, Macrinus confronted profound economic distress, severe military wage demands, and a debased currency system left behind by Caracalla. In response, imperial monetary policy under Macrinus initially implemented a deliberate reform, raising the fineness of the denarius above Caracalla's standard to approximately fifty-five to fifty-eight percent silver. The reverse type of Salus Publica, catalogued as RIC IV Macrinus 84, carried acute political and ideological resonance in this fraught climate. Invoking the public welfare and state security, the image of Salus communicated preservation, recuperation, and civic stability after the violent demise of Caracalla and amidst lingering threats along the eastern frontier.

Production and Mint Allocation

Although Macrinus spent his entire reign in the East and never visited Rome as princeps, the central imperial mint at Rome was immediately instructed to strike coinage in his name once the Senate confirmed his elevation. Numismatic research, pioneered by Harold Mattingly and expanded by Curtis Clay, demonstrates that Rome operated multiple officinae to produce regular silver and bronze denominations. RIC IV Macrinus 84 is securely assigned to the mint of Rome based on stylistic execution, engraving habits, and hoard composition. The coins were struck by hand using engraved bronze or iron dies on cast blanks. While an eastern mint operating at Antioch also produced coinage for Macrinus, its portraiture and letterforms are noticeably distinct from the refined output of the Rome workshops that produced this Salus Publica issue.

Obverse Iconography and Portrait Typology

The obverse of RIC IV Macrinus 84 depicts the laureate bust of Macrinus facing right, clad in military cuirass. A key diagnostic element of this type is the treatment of the imperial beard. In early 217 AD, die engravers at Rome lacked a direct imperial model and initially adapted Severan conventions, depicting the new emperor with a short, neatly cropped beard. This portrait style corresponds to Clay's first portrait group for the reign. The laurel wreath binds the hair with ties extending downward behind the neck, while the cuirass emphasizes the emperor's role as supreme commander. The rendering reflects the careful, classicizing style characteristic of the capital's senior engravers during the early third century AD.

Reverse Iconography of Salus

The reverse of the denarius features the goddess Salus draped in a stola, seated facing left upon an ornate, high-backed throne. She holds a patera in her left hand, extending it to feed a serpent that rises in coils from an altar set before her. With her right hand, she reaches forward to touch or rest upon the serpent's head. The serpent and patera are the traditional attributes of both Salus and the Greek Hygieia, embodying ritual feeding and divine guardianship. The high-backed throne provides an architectural grounding to the design, signifying permanence, dignity, and established civil authority. This composition represents one of the standard iconographical variants of Salus employed on imperial silver, contrasting with standing depictions or those where the serpent coils directly around an arm.

Inscriptions and Epigraphy

The obverse legend reads IMP C M OPEL SEV MACRINVS AVG, an abbreviation of Imperator Caesar Marcus Opellius Severus Macrinus Augustus. By incorporating the name Severus into his imperial nomenclature, Macrinus sought to establish a symbolic dynastic link with Septimius Severus and reassure the Roman establishment of continuity. The epigraphy is regular, with small, neatly serifed lettering typical of the Rome mint. The reverse legend, SALVS PVBLICA, translates as 'the Public Health' or 'the Public Welfare'. Rendered in the nominative case, it acts as a direct identification of the personification depicted. Unlike many of Macrinus's administrative issues, this reverse legend lacks tribunician or consular numbers, focusing entirely on an enduring imperial virtue rather than a specific chronological milestone.

Typology and Chronological Sequence

Within the typology established by Mattingly and Sydenham in The Roman Imperial Coinage, RIC IV Macrinus 84 belongs to the undated issues struck between 217 AD and 218 AD. The combination of the short-bearded portrait and the unheralded reverse places the initiation of this series early in the reign, likely during the summer or autumn of 217 AD. Subsequent issues of the Salus Publica motif began to show longer, more luxuriant beards as authentic likenesses arrived from the East, eventually catalogued under distinct type numbers such as RIC IV 85 and RIC IV 86. RIC IV 84 is therefore confined to the specific pairing of the cropped-beard, cuirassed bust with the seated Salus feeding the serpent from a patera.

Circulation, Hoard Evidence, and Survival

Despite Macrinus ruling for only fourteen months before his defeat and death in June 218 AD, denarii of this type entered wide circulation across the western and Danubian provinces. Because Macrinus had briefly increased the silver content of the denarius, these coins were frequently selected for hoarding alongside higher-purity Severan silver. Examples of RIC IV Macrinus 84 appear in numerous European hoards buried during the third century AD, such as the Reka Devnia hoard in Bulgaria, which contained dozens of specimens across Macrinus's various reverse types. The rapid succession of Elagabalus did not lead to a formal recall of Macrinus's coinage, allowing surviving specimens to circulate until the catastrophic debasements of the mid-third century AD drove earlier denarii out of general use.

References

1. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, Vol. V: Pertinax to Elagabalus. pp. 498-505
2. The Chronology of the Reign of Macrinus: A Reappraisal. Numismatische Zeitschrift 93 (1979), pp. 21-40
3. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC IV Macrinus 84. ric.4.mcs.84
4. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Vol. IV, Part II: Macrinus to Pupienus. pp. 12-13, no. 84