Macrinus Denarius RIC IV Macrinus 85c

Monetary Context and Reform

The accession of Macrinus in April 217 AD inherited an empire under extreme fiscal distress caused by Caracalla's costly military campaigns and substantial pay increases for the legions. To manage these expenses, Caracalla had debased the denarius to approximately 50 percent silver and introduced the double-denarius, or antoninianus, which contained only about 1.5 times the silver of a regular denarius despite circulating at double the tariffed value. Upon taking power, Macrinus initiated an immediate monetary reform aimed at restoring financial confidence. He suspended the minting of the antoninianus and elevated the silver fineness of the denarius back toward 55 to 58 percent, striking it on an average weight standard of approximately 3.10 to 3.25 grams. RIC IV Macrinus 85c belongs to this reformed denarius production, exemplifying the regime's efforts to stabilize purchasing power and present an image of fiscal rectitude to the Roman elite.

Production and Mint Allocation

The production of RIC IV Macrinus 85c is assigned to the principal imperial mint at Rome, which operated multiple administrative officinae to satisfy regular coin output. Although Macrinus himself remained in the eastern provinces throughout his reign and established an auxiliary mint at Antioch, the central metropolitan workshops in Rome continued to manufacture vast quantities of silver and bronze coinage on behalf of the absent emperor. Engravers at the Rome mint worked from administrative instructions and imperial portrait models sent from the East. Die studies of contemporary Roman denarii demonstrate high technical execution, with well-centered dies, regular flan preparation, and carefully aligned axis relationships. The production rate of the Rome mint remained intensive through late 217 AD and early 218 AD, generating abundant silver currency before Macrinus was defeated near Antioch in June 218 AD.

Obverse Portraiture and Style

The obverse of RIC IV Macrinus 85c features a right-facing bust of Macrinus wearing a laurel wreath, cuirass, and paludamentum. A defining characteristic of the 85c sub-variety is the rendering of the emperor with a long, flowing beard, in contrast to the shorter, closely trimmed beard seen on his earliest accession issues. Numismatists divide Macrinus's coinage into chronological portrait phases: the short-beard type reflecting initial Rome dies prepared without direct knowledge of his appearance, and the long-beard type representing updated imperial portrait models that arrived in late 217 AD. The portraiture evokes philosophical gravitas, drawing deliberately upon the mature imperial styles of Marcus Aurelius and Septimius Severus to reassure the Senate of the emperor's constitutional temperament and seasoned administrative competence.

Reverse Iconography of Salus Publica

The reverse of the type features Salus, the Roman personification of security, health, and public welfare. She is depicted draped and seated left upon an ornate, high-backed throne, holding a patera in her left hand to nourish a sacred snake that coils upward from a ground altar, while placing her right hand gently upon or toward the serpent's head. The theme of Salus Publica served a dual propaganda purpose in 217 and 218 AD. In one sense, it invoked divine preservation for the person of the emperor amid ongoing military confrontations against the Parthians in Mesopotamia. In a broader civic sense, it promised stability, protection, and collective well-being to a Roman public traumatized by the tyrannical excesses and sudden assassination of Caracalla. The seated posture on a domestic high-backed throne underlines permanence and peaceful governance.

Epigraphy and Imperial Titles

The obverse inscription reads IMP C M OPEL SEV MACRINVS AVG, an abbreviation for Imperator Caesar Marcus Opellius Severus Macrinus Augustus. The deliberate inclusion of the cognomen Severus represented an ideological adoption designed to attach Macrinus to the prestigious Severan dynasty, despite his lack of biological relationship to Septimius Severus or Caracalla. The epigraphy displays the compact, serifed lettering standard for the Severan Rome mint. The reverse bears the straightforward legend SALVS PVBLICA, written continuously around the rim. This legend functions as an ideological motto, explicitly dedicating the coin's theological image to the preservation of the Roman commonwealth. Lettering breaks and minor punctuation variations are documented across distinct die pairs but follow a unified institutional design scheme.

Typology and Chronological Sequence

In the taxonomy of Roman Imperial Coinage, volume IV, part II, Macrinus 85 is divided into several sub-types based on drapery, armor, and facial hair. Variety 85c specifically isolates the combination of a laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust showing the long beard, paired with the seated Salus feeding a snake. This variety was struck in the latter portion of Macrinus's rule, beginning in the autumn of 217 AD and continuing through the spring of 218 AD. It succeeded earlier issues bearing the shorter philosopher's beard and preceded the emergency emissions struck immediately prior to the emperor's downfall. Related denarii from the same emission series employed reverse types honoring Felicitas, Fides Militum, and Providentia, forming a comprehensive numismatic program intended to legitimize Macrinus's non-senatorial origins.

Circulation, Hoards, and Survival

Despite a total reign of only fourteen months, Macrinus struck substantial quantities of silver denarii that entered broad circulation across Italy, the Rhine-Danube limes, and the eastern frontiers. RIC IV Macrinus 85c appears consistently in mixed third-century coin hoards throughout Britain, Gaul, and the Balkans. Due to their higher intrinsic silver content relative to both Caracalla's antoniniani and the subsequent debased issues of Elagabalus, Macrinus's reformed denarii were frequently targeted for hoarding in accordance with Gresham's law. Many specimens show moderate to heavy circulation wear, indicating that they remained in commercial use alongside Severan silver well into the reign of Severus Alexander and the crisis of the third century before being recalled or permanently sequestered in hoards.

References

1. Corpus Nummorum Romanorum: Da Macrino a Diadumeniano. vol. 1, pp. 24-28
2. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, Volume V: Pertinax to Elagabalus. pp. 498-505
3. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC IV Macrinus 85c. ric.4.mcs.85c
4. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Volume IV, Part II: Macrinus to Pupienus. pp. 5-7, 13, no. 85c
5. The Metrology of the Roman Silver Coinage, Part III: From Pertinax to Uranius Antoninus. pp. 82-87