Marcus Aurelius Sestertius, RIC III Marcus Aurelius 795

Monetary Context and Denominational Function

The sestertius occupied a central functional position within the tripartite monetary system established under Augustus and maintained through the Antonine dynasty. Valued as one quarter of a silver denarius, two dupondii, or four bronze asses, the denomination bridged the gap between everyday market exchange and substantial fiscal accounting. Imperial ledgers, military payrolls, senatorial census evaluations, and public works contracts continued to be calculated traditionally in sesterces, cementing its institutional prominence even as physical silver denarii handled extensive state transfers. During the reign of Antoninus Pius and the accession of Marcus Aurelius in AD 161, the sestertius was manufactured from orichalcum, a copper-zinc brass alloy valued for its bright, golden hue when freshly minted. In contrast to the reddish copper of the smaller as, orichalcum conferred a distinguished visual status upon the sestertius and dupondius. Because zinc was a volatile metal introduced via the calamine cementation process rather than direct smelting, maintaining consistent alloy proportions was technically demanding. By the mid-second century AD, zinc content typically fluctuated between 10 and 18 percent, gradually declining from higher early Julio-Claudian standards due to metallurgical dilution and the remelting of older circulating coin stocks. Nominally struck at an average target weight near 24 to 26 grams with diameters typically ranging from 30 to 34 millimeters, the physical magnitude of the sestertius afforded Roman die engravers unmatched compositional scope. Unlike the constrained dies of the denarius or aureus, sestertius flans permitted complex, multi-figure narrative scenes and lengthy administrative legends. Consequently, issues such as RIC III Marcus Aurelius 795 served not merely as currency, but as major ideological declarations circulated to urban citizens, provincial merchants, and legionary encampments.

Production Standards and Rome Mint Organization

All official brass coinage for Marcus Aurelius in AD 161, including RIC III Marcus Aurelius 795, was produced exclusively by the imperial mint in the capital city of Rome. The Rome mint was a highly structured bureaucratic enterprise operating under the general oversight of the procurator monetae, an equestrian official, and manned by skilled hereditary or enslaved artisans comprising die engravers (scalptores), blank castors (flaturarii), and striking crews (malleatores and suppositores). Numismatic analyses of Antonine bronze demonstrate that the mint operated through organized officinae, or workshops, that divided production demands across denominations and imperial authorities. Flan production for large sestertii involved casting molten orichalcum into individual disc moulds or open gang moulds, leaving small bevelled edges or casting sprues that were subsequently trimmed and smoothed before striking. The blanks were heated to soften the dense copper-zinc crystal structure, placed between hand-held reverse punches and secured obverse anvil dies, and struck with heavy iron sledges. Due to the manual nature of Antonine striking, individual specimens of this type exhibit natural variances in physical thickness, strike centering, and flan crack development along the margins. Weight distribution across Antonine sestertii reveals that striking was conducted al marco (aiming for a fixed number of coins per Roman pound of approximately 327 grams) rather than al pezzo (ensuring every individual coin met an exact weight). Surviving specimens of RIC III 795 demonstrate standard individual flan weights clustering between 22 and 27 grams. The senatorial formula S C (Senatus Consulto) occupies its traditional place on the reverse field, reflecting the constitutional fiction that base-metal coinage was issued under the authority of the Roman Senate, even though the physical facilities, metals, and ideological programs were controlled entirely by the imperial palace.

Obverse Iconography and Imperial Titulature

The obverse die of RIC III Marcus Aurelius 795 features a right-facing portrait of Marcus Aurelius represented as a mature, philosophical ruler. The emperor is shown bare-headed, without the laurel wreath or radiate crown that typically accompanied triumphant militaristic or dupondius-specific imagery. His hair is composed of deeply carved, curling locks arranged in naturalistic layers around the temples and crown, paired with a full, neatly trimmed philosopher beard that had become the hallmark of Antonine imperial self-presentation since Hadrian. A light drape rests upon his left shoulder, visible beneath the base of the neck truncation, conveying a subtle blend of civilian elegance and civic authority. The encircling inscription reads IMP CAES M AVREL ANTONINVS AVG P M. Each component of this titulature reinforces legal dynastic continuity. The formula opens with Imperator Caesar, affirming supreme executive and military imperium. Marcus Aurelius emphasizes his adoption by Antoninus Pius by retaining the family name Antoninus, asserting uninterrupted succession and honouring his deified predecessor. The title Augustus (AVG) asserts supreme civil authority, while Pontifex Maximus (P M) claims the supreme religious leadership of the Roman state religion. Stylistically, the obverse belongs to the earliest imperial portrait group of Marcus Aurelius as Augustus. Engravers at the Rome mint captured the transition from his earlier youthful Caesar portraits to an authoritative sovereign likeness, emphasizing seriousness and restraint. Die studies demonstrate that multiple obverse dies were engraved for this issue, displaying minor stylistic shifts in the density of the curls, the angle of the jaw, and the exact arrangement of the shoulder drapery.

Reverse Iconography: Dextrarum Iunctio and Dual Principate

The reverse design of RIC III Marcus Aurelius 795 constitutes one of the most celebrated ideological compositions of second-century Roman numismatics. It portrays Marcus Aurelius and his adoptive brother Lucius Verus standing face to face in full civilian attire. Marcus Aurelius stands on the left, facing right, while Lucius Verus stands on the right, facing left. Both figures wear the flowing folds of the formal Roman toga, presenting them as the premier citizens and legal magistrates of the state rather than commanding generals in military cuirasses. The central visual motif of the scene is the dextrarum iunctio, the solemn clasping of their right hands at chest height. In Roman private law and public religion, this gesture sealed marriage contracts, affirmed sacred alliances, and pledged mutual fidelity between equal partners. Its adoption here represents the revolutionary constitutional innovation of March AD 161: for the first time in Roman imperial history, the empire was governed by two equal, co-ruling Augusti possessing full tribunician and proconsular powers. Marcus Aurelius, who had been elevated first upon the death of Antoninus Pius, insisted that the Senate bestow full imperial honors upon Lucius Verus as well, fulfilling the long-term succession scheme planned by Hadrian decades earlier. In his left hand, Marcus Aurelius holds a rolled manuscript scroll (volumen), symbolizing constitutional governance, the rule of law, and civil administration. The figures are carefully balanced in scale and stature, projecting an image of total visual symmetry and fraternal harmony. Flanking the lower composition, the large letters S and C appear across the left and right fields, embedding senatorial consent directly within this display of dual sovereign unity.

Epigraphic Structure and Political Message

The legend on the reverse of this issue reads CONCORD AVGVSTOR TR P XV COS III, completed by S C in the field. The opening phrase, Concordia Augustorum ('Harmony of the Augusti'), directly explains the clasped-hands iconography above. While earlier emperors had celebrated Concordia in reference to marital fidelity (such as Antoninus Pius and Faustina the Elder) or harmony between emperor and army, this legend specifically celebrates concord between multiple Augusti. It offered an immediate political guarantee that divided executive power would not lead to civil conflict, factional rivalry, or political instability. The subsequent epigraphic formula provides precise chronological control for the issue. TR P XV signifies that the coin was struck during Marcus Aurelius's fifteenth renewal of his tribunician power (tribunicia potestas). Marcus was first awarded the tribunician power alongside Antoninus Pius in late AD 147; consequently, his fifteenth tribunician year commenced on December 10, AD 160, and continued until December 9, AD 161. Since Antoninus Pius died on March 7, AD 161, and Lucius Verus was elevated immediately thereafter, this sestertius can be securely dated between March and December of AD 161. The title COS III records Marcus Aurelius's third consulship, which he entered on January 1, AD 161, sharing the ordinary consular office with Lucius Verus (who was serving his second consulship). Marcus Aurelius would not assume a fourth consulship, meaning COS III remained a static element on his subsequent coinage until his death in AD 180. The pairing of TR P XV with the initial imperial title P M on the obverse cements this issue as a direct launch product of the joint reign's opening months.

Typological Sequences and Parallel Issues

RIC III Marcus Aurelius 795 forms part of an expansive, coordinated propaganda suite struck across all metals at the Rome mint in the spring and summer of AD 161. The Concordia Augustorum theme was simultaneously struck on aurei, denarii, sestertii, dupondii, and asses for both Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, creating a unified multimedia campaign across every stratum of Roman monetary circulation. Within the sestertius series, several distinct typological variants were produced in parallel with RIC III 795. While RIC III 795 specifically denotes the variety with a bare head and light drapery on the left shoulder, companion types feature a completely bare head without drapery (such as RIC III 796) or a laureate bust (such as RIC III 798). Equivalent series were struck simultaneously under the authority and portraiture of Lucius Verus (bearing the reverse legend CONCORD AVGVSTOR TR P COS II, as seen on RIC III Lucius Verus 1282 and related numbers), ensuring that both monarchs received proportionate numismatic exposure. As the reign progressed into late AD 161 and early 162, the mint adjusted the imperial titulature and reverse formulations. When Marcus entered his sixteenth tribunician power (TR P XVI) in December AD 161, the tribunician date was updated, producing the subsequent series catalogued under RIC III 823 through 827. Later issues also introduced alternate reverse compositions, such as Marcus and Verus seated upon curule chairs on an elevated tribunal, or personifications of Concordia holding a patera and double cornucopiae. RIC III 795 represents the pristine initial phase of this typological sequence, capturing the constitutional settlement in its purest programmatic form.

Circulation Patterns, Wear, and Hoard Contexts

Upon leaving the Rome mint, sestertii of RIC III Marcus Aurelius 795 entered a mature, highly integrated monetary network that spanned the entire Roman Mediterranean and northwestern provinces. Because large base-metal coins were costly to transport compared to high-value gold and silver, initial bulk distributions typically followed official state channels, including regional military pay chests, civil administrative salaries, and civic spending initiatives throughout Italy and along the northern Rhine-Danube frontier garrisons. Excavations and hoard evidence from Roman Britain, the Gallic provinces, Germany, and the Danubian basin reveal that Antonine sestertii experienced exceptionally prolonged active lifespans. Unlike silver denarii, which were frequently subject to imperial recall, testing, and periodic debasement reforms, heavy orichalcum sestertii remained commercially viable for decades. Surviving specimens recovered from late second- and third-century hoards consistently show advanced stages of wear, with high-relief details on the imperial portraits and the togate reverse figures worn smooth by intensive hand-to-hand commerce. By the mid-third century, during the reigns of Severus Alexander, the Gordians, and Decius, the circulating brass stock had deteriorated substantially. The inflationary pressures of the third-century crisis led to a steep decline in new sestertius production and an increasing reliance on the double denarius (antoninianus). Consequently, many early Antonine sestertii, including issues of AD 161, remained in commercial circulation until the monetary collapses of the 260s and 270s AD, when they were finally demonetized, melted down for raw bronze casting, or deposited in domestic emergency hoards.

References

1. I Grandi Bronzi Imperiali: Marcus Aurelius. Vol. III-1, nos. 48-52
2. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC III Marcus Aurelius 795. ric.3.m_aur.795
3. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Vol. III: Antoninus Pius to Commodus. p. 278, no. 795
4. Die Münzprägung der Kaiser Marcus Aurelius, Lucius Verus und Commodus (161-192). MIR 18, pp. 45-52