Marcus Aurelius Silver Denarius RIC III Marcus Aurelius 596A

Monetary Context and Imperial Consecration

The death of Lucius Verus in early AD 169 brought an end to Rome's first formal imperial diarchy, in which Marcus Aurelius and Verus had governed jointly with equal constitutional powers since AD 161. While returning from the Danubian frontier to Rome, Verus suffered a fatal stroke near Altinum. Upon transporting his colleague's remains back to the capital and securing his entombment in the Mausoleum of Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius petitioned the Senate for Verus's deification. The consecration was formalized by senatorial decree, elevating the deceased princeps to the status of Divus Verus. As part of the public funerary observances and ideological affirmation of the dynasty, the imperial mint initiated a comprehensive consecration series in gold, silver, and bronze. Denarii such as RIC III Marcus Aurelius 596A served as an essential vehicle for this message, circulating throughout the empire to project political continuity, brotherly pietas, and the cosmic elevation of the deceased ruler during a period of mounting northern crisis.

Production and Mint Organization

Production of this denarius was concentrated entirely at the central imperial mint in Rome. During the joint reign and subsequent solo rule of Marcus Aurelius, the Rome mint operated with distinct officinae capable of executing high volumes of silver coinage under strict administrative oversight. Struck on standard cast flans, the type adhered to the Antonine silver weight standard, typically clustering around an average weight of 3.20 to 3.40 grams with a flan diameter of approximately 17 to 19 millimeters. Metallurgical studies of Antonine silver, such as those conducted by Butcher and Ponting, confirm that denarii produced during the late 160s AD maintained a silver fineness of approximately 75 to 80 percent, with the balance composed of copper. Die alignment for issues of this period was predominantly oriented at regular upright or inverted axes, demonstrating systematic mechanical adjustment within the mint workshops.

Obverse Portraiture

The obverse of RIC III Marcus Aurelius 596A depicts the bare head of Lucius Verus facing right. In numismatic portraiture of the Antonine period, consecration issues regularly omitted the laurel wreath, presenting the deceased ruler bare-headed to signify his transition beyond mortal magisterial office into the divine sphere. The portrait captures Verus's distinctive iconographic traits established during his lifetime: deeply carved, buoyant curls of hair arranged across the crown and temples, and a full, carefully textured beard. Die engravers at Rome produced subtle stylistic variations across individual dies, with some portraits showing slightly more elongated proportions or varying arrangements of the hair locks, yet all preserved the recognizable familial likeness sanctioned by the imperial court.

Reverse Iconography of Apotheosis

The reverse iconography centers on the eagle, the sacred bird of Jupiter and the supreme classical emblem of Roman imperial apotheosis. On RIC III Marcus Aurelius 596A, the eagle stands facing forward on a baseline, with its head turned toward the left and its wings outstretched as if preparing for celestial flight. In Roman funerary tradition, an eagle was released from the summit of the pyre during the ustrinum ceremony to symbolize the soul of the emperor ascending directly into the heavens among the gods. The posture with wings spread conveys active ascension, transforming the tangible political loss into a permanent religious victory. Die cutters executed the feathers with varying levels of detail, ranging from fine incised texturing on fresh dies to more stylized plumage on worn or heavily used implements.

Epigraphic Style and Legends

The epigraphy of the type is notable for its deliberate brevity compared to contemporary substantive issues. The obverse legend reads DIVVS VERVS, moving clockwise along the border. By dropping the extensive military and administrative titles borne by Verus in life (such as Armeniacus, Parthicus Maximus, or Medicus), the legend focuses solely on his divine nature. The reverse legend bears the single word CONSECRATIO, inscribed along the upper perimeter. This concise formula explicitly names the ritual act of deification approved by the Senate. The lettering is rendered in clear, standardized imperial capitals characteristic of the Rome mint in the high second century AD, framed within an outer border of fine dots.

Typology and Chronological Classification

RIC III Marcus Aurelius 596A was struck within a tightly constrained chronological window in AD 169, immediately following the funeral of Verus and the formal decree of consecration. In the classification scheme of Harold Mattingly and Edward Sydenham, this denarius represents one of several parallel reverse designs introduced for Divus Verus. While type 596A displays the eagle standing front with head turned left, closely related types feature the eagle standing right looking back, an eagle perched upon a globe, or a multi-tiered funeral pyre (ustrinum) topped with a quadriga. Because consecration denarii were struck to mark a specific historical moment rather than sustained over multi-year cycles, production of type 596A was likely concluded within AD 169 or the earliest months of AD 170 as the mint shifted capacity toward Marcus Aurelius's ongoing Germanic campaigns.

Circulation, Hoards, and Survival

Following its release into the imperial currency pool, the denarius circulated widely across the Roman provinces alongside earlier Antonine and Trajanic silver. Because Marcus Aurelius maintained stable fineness throughout the late 160s AD, consecration denarii of Lucius Verus remained in active use for decades. They are regularly attested in large third-century coin hoards throughout Britain, Gaul, the Rhine, and the Danubian frontiers, often showing moderate to heavy wear from extended circulation before being deposited during the political and monetary crises of the mid-third century AD. Survival rates among museum collections and documented excavations indicate that while not as vast as the lifetime issues of Verus, type 596A was struck in substantial quantities to fulfill ceremonial distributions and military pay in AD 169.

References

1. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, Vol. IV: Antoninus Pius to Commodus. p. 524
2. The Metallurgy of Roman Silver Coinage: From the Reform of Nero to the Reform of Trajan Decius. pp. 560-565
3. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC III Marcus Aurelius 596A. ric.3.m_aur.596A
4. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Vol. III: Antoninus Pius to Commodus. p. 250, no. 596A