Lucilla Orichalcum Sestertius, RIC III Marcus Aurelius 1736

Monetary Context and Dynastic Program

During the joint principate of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus (AD 161 to 169), the Roman monetary system maintained the bimetallic and base-metal hierarchy established under the Augustan reforms and modified by the Flavians and Antonines. The sestertius represented the principal large copper-alloy denomination, tariffed at four asses or one-quarter of a silver denarius. Beyond its indispensable role in urban trade, state disbursements, and daily market transactions, the physical expanse of the sestertius flan provided an exceptional platform for state-directed ideological communication. Following the celebration of the marriage between Annia Aurelia Galeria Lucilla and the senior co-emperor Lucius Verus at Ephesus in AD 164, Lucilla received the imperial title Augusta. To anchor the legitimacy of the shared throne and prepare the populace for dynastic succession, the imperial administration embarked on an extensive coin program dedicated to the empress. Issues honoring imperial women fulfilled a vital psychological function during the Antonine period, projecting stability, marital accord, and domestic abundance at a juncture when the empire faced the external pressures of the Parthian War and the devastating onset of the Antonine Plague. Type RIC III Marcus Aurelius 1736 encapsulates this public agenda by linking the person of Lucilla directly with divine maternal fruition.

Production Standards and Mint Operation

The entire issue of RIC III Marcus Aurelius 1736 was produced at the imperial mint of Rome, which retained exclusive responsibility for regular senatorial bronze striking during this period. The metal used was orichalcum, a copper-zinc alloy favored for sestertii and dupondii due to its bright, brass-like appearance when freshly struck. Metallurgical variations inherent to ancient smelting produced fluctuating zinc contents, generally ranging between 12 and 18 percent in mid-second-century issues, occasionally supplemented by minor trace impurities of tin and lead. In accordance with Antonine metrology, sestertii were struck at an average theoretical weight standard approximating 24 to 26 grams, with a typical diameter between 30 and 34 millimeters, although individual flans exhibit considerable variability caused by manual blank preparation. Flans were cast in molds before being heated and hand-hammered between engraved iron dies. Die alignment at the Rome mint was customarily standardized along a regular vertical axis, predominantly conforming to a six o'clock (180 degree) orientation, though slight rotational shifts from five to seven o'clock are well attested.

Obverse Iconography and Portraiture

The obverse of RIC III Marcus Aurelius 1736 features an elegant, right-facing bust of Lucilla, draped in a classical palla gathered over her shoulders. The portrait style exemplifies the youthful representation of the empress formulated by Rome's master engravers following her elevation to Augusta. Her facial profile exhibits the classical Antonine features inherited from her father, characterized by an aquiline nose, almond-shaped eye, and a firm, rounded chin. Particular scholarly attention focuses on Lucilla's hairstyle, which serves as a crucial chronological indicator within second-century numismatics. Her hair is parted centrally and combed back in deep, undulating parallel waves that run horizontally across the side of the head, leaving the earlobe exposed. At the back of the head, the hair is gathered low on the nape and coiled into a compact, ribbed bun or chignon. This conservative arrangement deliberately invokes the coiffure popularized by her mother, Faustina the Younger, underscoring continuity and familial modesty without the elaborate braids and hairpieces seen in later Severan fashions.

Reverse Design and Allegorical Composition

The reverse iconography centers on Fecunditas, the personification of fertility, seated in profile facing toward the right upon a low backless stool or seat. In her lap and arms, she cradles a nursing infant, leaning forward gently to support the child at her breast. The maternal group is amplified by the presence of two additional young children: one stands before her facing left, reaching toward or standing close to her knees, while a second child stands upright behind her seat. This intricate multi-figure composition represents a mature visual formula for Antonine dynastic ideology. While earlier Roman coins frequently depicted personifications standing with cornucopiae or scepters, the intimate seated nursing pose directly humanizes the imperial house. The presence of three children on the reverse of this type conveys not merely a generic wish for fertility, but a concrete celebration of progeny born to Lucilla and Lucius Verus, signaling to the Roman world that the imperial lineage remained secure.

Epigraphy and Legends

The inscriptions on RIC III Marcus Aurelius 1736 are struck in clear, regular classical Roman capitals, exhibiting balanced letter spacing and refined serif terminal cuts typical of the Antonine mint at Rome. The obverse legend reads LVCILLAE AVGVSTAE, arranged in a continuous arc starting from the lower left and terminating at the lower right. The legend is formulated in the grammatical dative case ("To Lucilla Augusta"), functioning as an official dedication from the Senate and people of Rome to the empress. This grammatical construction distinguishes her coinage from the nominative formulas often preferred for ruling male emperors who held active magistracies. The reverse legend reads FECVNDITAS across the upper perimeter, identifying the divine virtue embodied in the empress. In the field flanking the central figure, the bold letters S and C appear, standing for Senatus Consulto ("by decree of the Senate"). The placement of the senatorial mark across the fields rather than in the exergue is standard for this type, reinforcing the traditional constitutional authority under which all base-metal coinage was officially sanctioned.

Typology and Chronological Classification

The exact catalogue type RIC III Marcus Aurelius 1736 occupies a specific chronological horizon within the reign of Marcus Aurelius. Struck between AD 164 and the death of Lucius Verus in early AD 169, the type belongs to Lucilla's first major period of coin production as reigning Augusta. In Wolfgang Szaivert's systematic arrangement of the Antonine coinage (MIR 18), Lucilla's issues under Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus are differentiated from her later post-169 issues following her remarriage to Tiberius Claudius Pompeianus, during which her numismatic output diminished considerably. Typological differentiation within the Fecunditas series of Lucilla is essential. While closely related sestertius variants depict Fecunditas standing holding a child or flanked by two children (such as RIC III 1738), RIC III 1736 is strictly defined by the seated posture, the nursing child, and the dual flanking children. The seated motif is generally regarded by numismatists as representing a specific childbirth event within the imperial family during the mid-160s AD, distinguishing it chronologically from broader, generalized invocations of fertility.

Circulation, Hoard Contexts, and Wear

Orichalcum sestertii of the Antonine period enjoyed long and intensive circulation life across the Roman world. Because base-metal denominations were not subject to the rapid bullion hoards and official demonetizations that affected precious metals, sestertii of Lucilla remained in daily commercial use for decades after her death in AD 182, regularly appearing in circulation contexts through the Severan period and into the mid-third century AD. Archaeological and hoard evidence reveals that sestertii struck under Marcus Aurelius for Lucilla circulated heavily in Italy, the Gallic provinces, the Rhine-Danube frontier, and Britain. Due to their prolonged use in high-velocity retail transactions, extant specimens frequently display considerable abrasive wear, smoothing high relief areas such as the empress's chignon and the delicate facial features of the nursing infant. Many specimens also acquired deep green, brown, or variegated patinas depending on soil composition and drainage conditions at their recovery sites.

References

1. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, Vol. IV: Antoninus Pius to Commodus. pp. 570-575
2. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Vol. III: Antoninus Pius to Commodus. pp. 275, 328, no. 1736
3. RIC III Marcus Aurelius 1736. Type ric.3.m_aur.1736
4. Die Münzprägung der Kaiser Marcus Aurelius, Lucius Verus und Commodus (161-192). MIR 18, nos. 7-15