Macrinus Silver Denarius RIC IV Macrinus 92c

Monetary and Historical Context

The accession of Macrinus in April AD 217 interrupted the direct line of the Severan dynasty following the murder of Caracalla near Carrhae. As the first member of the equestrian order to attain the purple, Macrinus faced acute challenges regarding political legitimacy and the loyalty of the Danubian and Eastern legions. The monetary system inherited by his administration was severely stressed by Caracalla's massive military expenditures, which had precipitated a decline in the intrinsic metal value of the denarius alongside the introduction of the radiate antoninianus. To placate civilian and senatorial sentiment while managing imperial finances, Macrinus suspended the striking of the double denarius and made modest efforts to stabilize the silver denarius. The issue of RIC IV Macrinus 92c belongs to this immediate post-Severan phase, where public currency served as an indispensable medium of ideological reassurance. The proclamation of SECVRITAS TEMPORVM aimed to soothe anxieties regarding civil strife and continuous frontier warfare, promoting the dawn of an era of domestic peace under legitimate imperial stewardship.

Production and Mint Organization

The production of RIC IV Macrinus 92c is conventionally attributed to the mint of Rome. Under the early Severans, the capital mint operated through organized officinae, each assigned specific imperial deities, virtues, or family members to strike simultaneously. While Macrinus resided in the East throughout his reign and governed primarily from Antioch, the administrative machinery of the mint at Rome continued functioning under senatorial and bureaucratic oversight. Engravers in Rome worked initially from written dispatches or official sculpture models sent from the East, leading to progressive modifications in portraiture across successive strikings. The alloy used for this denarius issue followed the standard established under the later Severans, characterized by approximately 50 to 55 percent silver content with copper forming the remainder of the fabric. Flans were cast in open or tiered moulds before being hand-struck between engraved iron dies, resulting in characteristic axial variances and slight irregularities in flan circularity typical of third-century Roman mint output.

Obverse Iconography and Variations

The obverse of RIC IV Macrinus 92c presents a mature bust of the emperor directed to the right, adorned with a laurel wreath, drapery, and a cuirass. A distinctive diagnostic feature of the 92c catalogue classification is the treatment of the facial hair: the portrait displays a fully grown, long beard. In the sequence of Macrinus's coinage at Rome, numismatists recognize two primary portrait styles: an initial short-bearded type that closely resembled the severe physiognomy of Caracalla, and a subsequent mature style featuring a longer, more flowing beard that emphasized the equestrian jurist's philosophical gravitas and distinguished his personal image from his predecessor. Die studies demonstrate that engravers rendered the drapery and chest armour with varying degrees of plastic relief, sometimes displaying the leather pteruges or ornate folds of the paludamentum over the cuirass plate. The laurel wreath terminates at the nape with two hanging ribbon ties.

Reverse Iconography and Symbolism

The reverse design represents the personification of Securitas, clothed in a traditional long stola and standing facing left. Her posture is deliberately relaxed, with her legs crossed at the ankles, an iconographic convention in Roman art signifying ease, tranquility, and total absence of imminent peril. Her left elbow rests firmly upon a short columnar base or cippus, reinforcing the motif of structural permanence and unshakeable steadiness. In her raised right hand, she holds an upright or slightly inclined long sceptre, an attribute denoting divine sanction and administrative sovereignty. The combination of the leaning posture, column, and sceptre constitutes one of the most recognizable allegorical formulas for civic peace. On RIC IV Macrinus 92c, this composition communicates that the state's security is anchored by the new ruler's regime despite the prevailing political volatility.

Epigraphy and Legend Structure

The obverse inscription reads IMP C M OPEL SEV MACRINVS AVG, rendering the expanded formula 'Imperator Caesar Marcus Opellius Severus Macrinus Augustus'. Macrinus deliberately adopted the dynastic cognomen 'Severus' to manufacture an administrative and affective bridge to the house of Septimius Severus, thereby appealing directly to imperial loyalists and the praetorian guard. The lettering begins at the lower left perimeter and runs clockwise continuously around the portrait. On the reverse, the legend SECVRITAS TEMPORVM ('The Security of the Times') is arranged circularly around the figure of Securitas, beginning low left and concluding on the lower right perimeter. The epigraphy displays the compact, slender letterforms characteristic of Rome's early third-century die cutters, with pronounced serifs and regularized spacing between word elements.

Typological Distinction and Chronology

Within the typology compiled in Roman Imperial Coinage, type 92 is partitioned into sub-varieties based upon portrait drapery and beard length. Type 92c is specifically defined by the draped and cuirassed bust combined with the mature, long beard, distinguishing it from bare-chested or short-bearded counterparts (such as 92a and 92b). Chronologically, Harold Mattingly and subsequent scholars like Curtis Clay placed the transition from the short-beard to the long-beard portraiture around late autumn of AD 217 or the turn of AD 218. The SECVRITAS TEMPORVM legend occurs without imperial tribunician numbering or consulship dates, placing its production within the broader undated issues struck between the spring of AD 217 and the fall of Macrinus in June AD 218. The physical dies for 92c represent the later development of this sequence at Rome, created once revised official likenesses had arrived from the imperial court in the East.

Circulation, Hoard Evidence, and Survival

Because Macrinus's reign lasted only fourteen months, silver denarii struck in his name constitute a relatively small percentage of the total mass of third-century Roman currency. Denarii of the SECVRITAS TEMPORVM type entered active circulation across both western and Danubian provinces, as attested by their appearance in prominent British, continental, and Balkan hoards, such as the Shapwick and Dorchester deposits. Following the damnatio memoriae or systematic demonetization attempts by the incoming Severan faction under Elagabalus, many coins of Macrinus were retrieved and melted down to provide bullion for new imperial issues. Those that escaped the melting pot often circulated alongside worn Antonine and Severan denarii for decades, gradually suffering wear and clipping until the monetary reforms of the mid-third century relegated early debased denarii to emergency hoards or complete obsolescence.

References

1. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, Vol. V: Pertinax to Elagabalus. pp. 498-502
2. The Chronology of the Reign of Macrinus, Numismatische Zeitschrift 93. pp. 21-40
3. Roman Coins from the Earliest Times to the Fall of the Western Empire. pp. 120-128
4. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC IV Macrinus 92c. ric.4.mcs.92c
5. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Vol. IV, Part II: Macrinus to Pupienus. p. 13