Marcus Aurelius Sestertius, RIC III Marcus Aurelius 1511

Monetary Context and Denominational Function

During the mid-to-late second century AD, the Roman currency system operated as a sophisticated multi-denominational trimetallic network dominated by gold, silver, and copper-alloy tokens. Within this structure, the sestertius functioned as the cornerstone of base-metal circulation and the primary unit of account in civic administration, legal contracts, and daily economic transactions across the empire. Struck in orichalcum, a golden-toned copper alloy containing zinc, the sestertius carried a nominal value equal to four copper asses, two orichalcum dupondii, or one-quarter of a silver denarius. The large module of the sestertius made it uniquely suitable for detailed iconographic programs. In the political culture of the High Principate, the imperial court and the Senate utilized the denomination's expansive surface area to project official narratives, religious ceremonies, and dynastic statements directly into the hands of the provincial and Italian populace. The deification of Lucius Verus early in 169 AD represented a critical juncture for Marcus Aurelius. Verus, who had reigned as co-Augustus since 161 AD, succumbed to an abrupt illness widely connected by modern historians to the early stages of the Antonine Plague as the co-emperors returned from the Danubian front. By striking heavy consecratio sestertii such as RIC III Marcus Aurelius 1511, the administration performed vital ideological work: elevating Verus to the ranks of state deities (divi), reinforcing the Antonine succession pact established under Antoninus Pius, and reaffirming the spiritual protection of the Roman state during severe military and epidemiological anxieties.

Production Standards and Mint Operation

Production of RIC III Marcus Aurelius 1511 took place exclusively at the central imperial mint in Rome. Under the early and Antonine Principate, the metropolitan mint held an effective monopoly over regular brass and copper coinage destined for Italy and the western provinces. Struck under the constitutional authority of the Senate, indicated by the traditional formula S C, the issue adhered to standard Antonine technical parameters for orichalcum coinage. The production of sestertius flans involved casting molten alloy into individual circular blanks or gang molds, which were subsequently dressed, trimmed, and struck cold or slightly warmed between hand-cut hardened iron dies. Sestertii of Marcus Aurelius from this period typically display flan diameters ranging from 30 to 33 millimeters, with median weights fluctuating between 22.0 and 28.0 grams, though individual surviving specimens exhibit wider variations due to contemporary mint tolerances and uneven metal batches. The zinc content of orichalcum, which had approached twenty percent during the early Julio-Claudian era, experienced gradual debasement by the late second century AD through the reuse of scrap metal and changing smelting practices, leaving the metal with an increasingly reddish-yellow or bronze appearance. Die axis alignment for the issue follows the conventional imperial standard, predominantly maintaining an approximate six o'clock (inverted) orientation, though slight shifts between five and seven o'clock occur regularly across distinct die pairings.

Obverse Iconography and Epigraphy

The obverse of RIC III Marcus Aurelius 1511 features a formal right-facing portrait bust of the deceased Lucius Verus, characterized by a completely bare head. The die engravers captured the recognizable stylistic features of Verus established during his lifetime: an elaborate, deeply curled arrangement of hair and a prominent, textured beard executed with meticulous drill work and engraving. Unlike lifetime issues that consistently depicted him crowned with a laurel wreath, radiant crown, or military drapery, the posthumous representation strips away terrestrial military and civil regalia. The bare head signifies his deceased and sanctified status, presenting him as an immortalized hero awaiting full apotheosis. Surrounding the portrait is the brief, solemn dedication DIVVS VERVS, inscribed clockwise starting from the lower left. This concise nomenclature, lacking the familiar imperial titles of Augustus, Imperator, or Parthicus Maximus, firmly demarcates the issue as part of the consecrated series. By proclaiming Verus as divus, the coin reflects the formal act of deification voted by the Senate at Rome upon the arrival of his remains from the northern frontier.

Reverse Design: The Imperial Funeral Pyre

The reverse of the type presents one of the most intricate architectural representations in second-century Roman numismatics: the imperial ustrinum, or funeral pyre. The structure is rendered in four superimposed, progressively receding tiers resting upon a wide, stepped platform. The lowest tier features draped swags and festive garlands hung across paneled walls, evoking the decorative hangings placed upon the wooden armature during the actual obsequies at the Campus Martius. The second tier is detailed with arched architectural niches housing sculptural figures representing prominent ancestors, deities, or personifications. The third tier echoes this recessed design on a smaller scale, decorated with additional statuary and festoons. Surmounting the summit of the fourth tier is an imperial quadriga, a four-horse chariot driven by an upright figure, symbolizing the vehicle through which the emperor's soul ascends to the heavens. Flanking the lower structure in the field are the large letters S and C, affirming senatorial endorsement. The scene translates contemporary funeral architecture into a permanent visual record, corresponding closely with literary accounts, such as those of Herodian and Cassius Dio, describing the multi-storied wooden pyres from which an eagle was traditionally released as flames consumed the structure.

Epigraphic Structure and Ideology

The legends of RIC III Marcus Aurelius 1511 are notable for their austere brevity and religious clarity. The obverse legend reads DIVVS VERVS, an absolute minimum of epigraphic text that places supreme focus on the posthumous divinity of the co-emperor. The omission of administrative magistracies such as tribunicia potestate or consulatus underscores the eternal, timeless condition of the divus, removed entirely from terrestrial office-holding. On the reverse, the single substantive word CONSECRATIO encircles the upper perimeter of the design. Derived from the Latin verb consecrare, the term designates the formal civic ritual and religious transformation whereby a deceased emperor was translated among the celestial gods of the state pantheon. Flanking the lower tier of the ustrinum, the letters S and C represent Senatus Consulto ('by decree of the Senate'). This formula preserved the constitutional fiction that while Marcus Aurelius initiated the funeral honors, the official elevation to divine status and the striking of base-metal coinage remained the legal prerogative of the senatorial order, uniting imperial authority and senatorial tradition in mutual legitimacy.

Typology and Chronological Classification

RIC III Marcus Aurelius 1511 was struck exclusively in 169 AD, immediately following the deification of Lucius Verus in the spring of that year. Within the comprehensive typology of Antonine consecration issues, this specific type is catalogued in The Roman Imperial Coinage (RIC) Volume III under Marcus Aurelius, as Marcus held supreme authority over the metropolitan mint at the time of issue. Wolfgang Szaivert's modern chronological framework, Die Münzprägung der Kaiser Marcus Aurelius, Lucius Verus und Commodus (MIR 18), classifies the funeral pyre types of Divus Verus within issue phase 18 (dated directly to 169 AD). The pyre reverse belongs to a coordinated thematic suite of consecration types struck across all three metals. In gold and silver, corresponding denarii and aurei carried identical or complementary reverse motifs, including an eagle standing on a scepter or globe, or an eagle carrying the soul of Verus aloft. On the large brass flan of the sestertius, however, the four-tiered pyre provided an unmatched opportunity for architectural display. While other sestertii of the consecration group feature an eagle perched upon a globe (RIC 1509) or an eagle standing right (RIC 1510), type 1511 represents the definitive architectural expression of the apotheosis ceremonial.

Circulation Patterns and Archaeological Recovery

As high-value base-metal pieces, sestertii like RIC III Marcus Aurelius 1511 circulated vigorously throughout Italy, the Gauls, the Rhine frontier, and the Danubian provinces. The heavy demand for cash during the Marcomannic Wars meant that base-metal issues struck in Rome were rapidly dispersed through military pay, logistics contracts, and administrative expenditures. Archaeological recovery in hoards and stratified settlement deposits reveals that Antonine sestertii frequently remained in active commercial circulation for half a century or more, often passing through hands until the financial dislocations and monetary reforms of the mid-third century AD. By that period, persistent wear and the progressive reduction of sestertius modules under the Severan and later soldier-emperors caused older, heavier pieces to be culled, clipped, or melted down for secondary brass production. Surviving specimens of RIC 1511 consistently exhibit varying degrees of surface wear on the high points of Verus's hair and the intricate decorative registers of the pyre, reflecting genuine commercial use before eventual deposition in hoards, ritual deposits, or urban soil strata.

References

1. I grandi bronzi imperiali: Marcus Aurelius. Vol. III-1, p. 118, no. 14
2. Die Münzprägung der Kaiser Marcus Aurelius, Lucius Verus und Commodus (MIR 18). MIR 18, 184-9/10
3. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC III Marcus Aurelius 1511. RIC III Marcus Aurelius 1511
4. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Vol. III: Antoninus Pius to Commodus. p. 317, no. 1511