Macrinus Silver Denarius RIC IV Macrinus 35

Monetary Context and Imperial Policy

The ascension of Macrinus in AD 217 occurred amidst severe fiscal strain throughout the Roman world. Under Septimius Severus and Caracalla, the Roman denarius had undergone substantial debasement alongside massive increases in regular legionary pay. Caracalla had also introduced the double denarius, known to modern scholars as the antoninianus, which contained less than twice the silver of a regular denarius, yielding an overvalued tariff against standard billon currency. Macrinus inherited depleted treasury reserves compounded by the necessity of purchasing an expensive peace settlement with Artabanus IV of Parthia. In response to mounting economic instability, Macrinus initiated a conservative currency reform aimed at restoring faith in traditional silver denominations. Rather than maintaining the heavily adulterated standard of late Caracalla issues, the imperial administration improved the fineness of the denarius, raising its mean silver content from roughly forty-eight percent to well over fifty percent. At the same time, the mint curtailed and eventually ceased regular production of the antoninianus, reaffirming the singular prestige of the standard denarius. RIC IV Macrinus 35 was minted precisely within this economic recalibration. Intended primarily to satisfy administrative salaries and state disbursements in the western provinces, these denarii functioned as high-status transactional money whose intrinsic improvement sought to placate both the senatorial aristocracy and the wider Roman civilian populace.

Mint Organization and Production Techniques

Although Macrinus spent his entire reign in the eastern provinces of Syria and Asia Minor, RIC IV Macrinus 35 was manufactured at the central mint in Rome. Mint operations in the capital were divided among several administrative officinae, or workshops, that maintained uniform stylistic standards despite operating at physical distance from the emperor. Because portrait models had to be conveyed from Syria to Italy via couriers, early Rome dies executed immediately after Macrinus's accession presented generic features strongly reminiscent of Caracalla. By the time this issue was engraved in late AD 217, updated physiognomic dispatches had arrived, enabling die engravers to craft individualized portraits featuring a mature, heavily bearded equestrian statesman. The mechanical production of the denarius adhered to standard imperial methods: blanks of adjusted silver-copper alloy were cast in spherical or flattened molds, heated to anneal the metal, and hand-struck between engraved bronze or iron dies. The obverse die was fixed into an anvil, while the reverse die was mounted into a punch held by an artisan and struck with a heavy hammer. This manual striking process produced typical irregularities, including moderate die axis variation, slight flan eccentricities, and occasionally off-centre strikes, without compromising the overall artistic clarity of the imperial imagery.

Obverse Portraiture and Stylistic Execution

The obverse of RIC IV Macrinus 35 features a right-facing, laureate, and cuirassed bust of the emperor. A defining attribute of this specific type is the detailed rendering of his long beard, which sets it apart from earlier issues produced with short, clipped beards. The imperial engravers articulated the beard using precise, parallel rows of curled pellets and fine linear incisions, imparting a sense of mature gravitas and philosophical restraint. Macrinus's laurel wreath is secured around the crown with tied ribbons that fall gracefully toward the back of the neck, while the cuirass is visible at the truncation of the neck and chest, showing layered paludamentum drapery fastened by a round shoulder brooch. The facial portrait depicts deep-set eyes, an aquiline nose, and a furrowed brow, reflecting the physical reality of an emperor who took power in his early fifties. The stylistic balance achieved in this portrait demonstrates the high technical proficiency of the Rome die sinkers, who managed to craft a commanding likeness despite the ruler's perpetual absence from the Italian peninsula.

Reverse Iconography: Securitas

The reverse design presents Securitas, the personification of state security, standing draped and facing toward the left. Her posture is deliberately relaxed: her legs are crossed at the ankles, and her left elbow leans gracefully upon a small architectural column, an iconographic motif that symbolizes immovable stability, steadfast endurance, and peace. In her outstretched right hand, Securitas grasps a long vertical sceptre, the conventional attribute of divine and sovereign majesty. The drapery of her stola and palla falls in refined, curvilinear folds, demonstrating the classical balance typical of Roman allegorical representations. In the political climate of AD 217, the invocation of Securitas served an essential propagandistic purpose. Following years of militaristic tyranny, purges, and arbitrary executions under Caracalla, Macrinus sought to reassure Roman citizens that civil liberties were respected, institutional order had returned, and the Roman commonwealth could rest in tranquil assurance under legitimate governance.

Epigraphic Analysis and Legend Formulations

The epigraphy on RIC IV Macrinus 35 is carefully structured to convey both constitutional legitimacy and dynastic continuity. The obverse legend reads IMP C M OPEL SEV MACRINVS AVG, which expands in full Latin as Imperator Caesar Marcus Opellius Severus Macrinus Augustus. The inclusion of the cognomen Severus was a calculated political move; by formally appending the Severan name to his own Moorish and equestrian gentilicium, Macrinus signaled an ideological inheritance of Septimius Severus's mandate, reassuring both the legions and the public of imperial continuity. The reverse legend reads PONTIF MAX TR P II COS P P, expanding to Pontifex Maximus, Tribunicia Potestate II, Consul, Pater Patriae. The accumulation of these titles in a single legend succinctly catalogs the supreme religious office of chief priest, the renewal of tribunician sacrosanctity for a second term, the assumption of the consular rank, and the designation as Father of the Country. The lettering is cleanly cut in square Roman capitals, arranged in a continuous perimeter band bordered by a fine beaded rim.

Typology and Chronological Placement

The precise chronological dating of RIC IV Macrinus 35 has been the subject of extensive numismatic analysis. Under traditional interpretations found in early volumes of Roman Imperial Coinage, the combination of TR P II and COS was assigned to the opening months of AD 218, when Macrinus officially entered his designated ordinary consulship. However, detailed historical and hoard studies, particularly the chronological framework established by Curtis L. Clay, demonstrate that the Rome mint struck coins with TR P II COS in late AD 217. Because imperial tribunician power was systematically renewed on 10 December in accordance with official Rome mint conventions, and Macrinus was designated to take the consulship on 1 January 218, the mint pre-emptively combined these honors during the closing weeks of December 217. Within the broader typology of Macrinus's coinage, RIC IV Macrinus 35 belongs to his intermediate Rome mint emission, immediately following the short-bearded TR P types of spring and summer 217, and preceding the scarce TR P II COS II emissions produced during the final collapse of his reign in spring AD 218.

Circulation Patterns and Monetary Survival

Denarii of Macrinus, including RIC IV Macrinus 35, circulated broadly across the western provinces of the empire, from Britain and Gaul down to the Danubian frontier and Italy. Because of his brief reign of only fourteen months, the total volume of Macrinus's silver emissions was relatively modest in comparison to the massive coinages of Caracalla or the later Gordian dynasty. Following Macrinus's defeat and execution at the Battle of Antioch in June AD 218, his damnatio memoriae led to official destruction of public inscriptions, but his coinage was not systematically recalled or melted by the successor regime of Elagabalus. Instead, due to their higher silver purity relative to preceding and subsequent debased issues, denarii of Macrinus were frequently hoarded by private individuals in times of crisis. These specimens regularly appear in mixed hoards throughout the mid-third century AD, remaining in commercial circulation until the final collapse of the traditional denarius system during the joint reign of Valerian and Gallienus.

References

1. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, Volume V: Pertinax to Elagabalus. p. 501, no. 18
2. The Chronology of the Reign of Macrinus (Numismatische Zeitschrift 93). pp. 21-40
3. Online Coins of the Roman Empire (OCRE): RIC IV Macrinus 35. RIC IV Macrinus 35
4. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Volume IV, Part II: Macrinus to Pupienus. p. 7, no. 35