Diva Paulina Bronze Sestertius, RIC IV Caecilia Paulina 3

Monetary and Historical Context

The emission of RIC IV Caecilia Paulina 3 took place against the backdrop of profound political transformation in the Roman Empire. Following the assassination of Severus Alexander in early AD 235, the Pannonian soldier Gaius Julius Verus Maximinus, known to modern historiography as Maximinus Thrax, was acclaimed Augustus by the Danubian legions. Lacking aristocratic lineage or established political roots in the capital, Maximinus faced immediate skepticism from the Roman Senate. Although Maximinus himself never visited Rome during his three-year reign, preferring to direct military campaigns along the Rhine and Danube frontiers, the mint of Rome continued to operate under traditional administrative structures. The deification of his deceased wife, Caecilia Paulina, was an essential dynastic measure designed to anchor his newly established regime within traditional Roman religious conventions. Paulina had likely died before or immediately around the time of Maximinus's accession. By decreeing her consecratio in collaboration with the Senate, the imperial administration secured divine honors for the empress, creating a divine precedent that enhanced the prestige of both Maximinus and their son, Gaius Julius Verus Maximus, who was elevated to the rank of Caesar. Within the monetary system of the early third century AD, the sestertius remained the principal large-format base metal denomination used for high-visibility public messaging. While the silver antoninianus and denarius were primarily employed for military payroll and fiscal payments, the large orichalcum flan of the sestertius provided an expansive canvas for detailed allegorical and religious art intended for civilian circulation.

Production and Mint Organization

All securely attested specimens of RIC IV Caecilia Paulina 3 were struck exclusively by the imperial mint at Rome. During the early reign of Maximinus Thrax, the Rome mint was organized into multiple active workshops or officinae, which shared the workload of producing imperial gold, silver, and aes coinage. Numismatic analyses of die linkages and stylistic traits indicate that the posthumous consecratio series for Paulina was produced concurrently with the early secular issues of Maximinus and Maximus Caesar, concentrated primarily between AD 235 and 236. The production of sestertii in this era utilized an alloy of orichalcum, a golden-toned copper alloy predominantly containing zinc, though metallurgical purity had experienced gradual shifts since the Julio-Claudian period. Blanks were cast in individual molds or prepared from cast strips, then brought to red heat before being struck by hand between upper and lower dies. Surviving specimens demonstrate the high level of technical proficiency maintained by the celators of the Roman capital, who successfully executed deep relief portraits and intricate reverse scenes despite growing political tensions. Weight standards for the sestertius under Maximinus hovered around an average of approximately nineteen to twenty-two grams with flan diameters ranging typically between twenty-nine and thirty-two millimeters, although individual planchet preparation exhibited considerable variance inherent to ancient mass production techniques.

Obverse Typology

The obverse of RIC IV Caecilia Paulina 3 features an imposing right-facing portrait of the empress, described in standard typological catalogues as a bust of Paulina, veiled and draped to the right. Because historical sources such as the Historia Augusta and the contemporary historian Herodian provide virtually no biographical details concerning Paulina's life, her numismatic portraiture serves as the primary surviving visual record of her person. The portrait is characterized by sober dignity, showing the empress with modest facial features, an aquiline nose, and hair styled according to early third-century fashion, swept back from the brow and partially concealed beneath a heavy veil. The veil is the central iconographic attribute of her post-mortem status, immediately signaling her role as a deceased and consecrated Augusta. Die engravers rendered the drapery across her bust with delicate folds that gather neatly around the neck and shoulder, conveying solemnity and decorum. While individual dies show slight variations in facial proportion, the depth of the relief, and the precise arrangement of hair along the cheek, the essential obverse composition remains remarkably uniform across the known dies of this catalogue type.

Reverse Typology and Allegory

The reverse design of this sestertius presents one of the most dynamic allegorical compositions in third-century imperial numismatics. The scene depicts Empress Paulina seated upon the back of a large peacock, the sacred avian companion of Juno, the queen of the gods. The peacock is shown in mid-flight, carrying the empress upward to heaven towards the right with its wings fully spread and its plumaged tail trailing behind. Paulina sits draped and facing left relative to the bird's trajectory, steadying her position while holding a long transverse sceptre in her left hand. The sceptre symbolizes divine imperial sovereignty, confirming her elevation to the status of a goddess in the celestial sphere. Below the soaring figures, the letters S and C appear prominently in the left and right fields or across the lower region of the die. This dramatic depiction of apotheosis is a direct visual descendant of earlier consecrated empress types, most notably those struck for Sabina under Hadrian, Faustina the Elder under Antoninus Pius, and Julia Domna under Caracalla. The motif visually assured the Roman public that Paulina had been successfully translated to the heavens, thereby granting divine patronage to the ruling family on earth.

Inscriptions and Epigraphic Analysis

The epigraphy of RIC IV Caecilia Paulina 3 is concise, classical, and purposefully understated. The obverse carries the simple dedicatory legend DIVA PAVLINA, read clockwise from the lower left to the upper right along the beaded border. The title Diva formally confirms that the Senate had enacted the ceremony of deification, styling her as a divine being. Notably, the legend omits her family nomen Caecilia, adhering to the standard numismatic formula used for earlier consecrated empresses. The lettering is cleanly cut in square Roman capitals with well-defined serifs. On the reverse, the legend consists of the single word CONSECRATIO, inscribed along the upper perimeter above the ascending peacock. This word identifies the central theme of the coin, naming the formal ritual through which mortal rulers and imperial consorts achieved immortality. In the lower field or flanking the design, the abbreviation S C stands for Senatus Consulto, signifying that the coin was struck by decree of the Senate. Even as real political power shifted toward frontier armies during the third century, the formal inclusion of S C on base metal denominations remained an essential constitutional requirement, attesting to the nominal cooperation between the military emperor and the traditional senatorial elite in Rome.

Typology, Classification, and Chronology

Within the standard classification established in Harold Mattingly and Edward A. Sydenham's Roman Imperial Coinage, volume IV, part II, the memorial coinage for Diva Paulina is catalogued under the reign of Maximinus Thrax. The bronze issues are divided primarily into two distinct reverse iconographies: the standing peacock with spread tail, catalogued as RIC IV 4, and the peacock carrying Paulina aloft to heaven, catalogued as RIC IV 3. The apotheosis design of RIC IV 3 also occurs on silver denarii (RIC IV 2), demonstrating a synchronized emission across multiple metals. The precise chronology of the issue has been placed by numismatic authorities within the initial phase of Maximinus's reign, specifically between the late spring of AD 235 and the end of AD 236. The absence of subsequent deification types in later years indicates that the consecratio emission was short-lived, struck in a targeted ceremonial burst shortly after the formal funeral rites in Rome. While some older nineteenth-century references attempted to associate Paulina with other third-century rulers, modern scholarship universally confirms her attribution to the household of Maximinus Thrax, establishing RIC IV 3 as an authentic and tightly circumscribed issue of the Rome mint.

Circulation Patterns and Monetary Role

As an official brass sestertius, RIC IV Caecilia Paulina 3 circulated alongside both older Severan base metal coinage and contemporary bronze issues of Maximinus and his contemporaries. Findspots recorded across Italy and the western provinces, including Gaul, Raetia, and the Danubian frontiers, show that sestertii of the 230s AD enjoyed broad geographical circulation. However, because the consecratio series for Paulina was struck over a relatively short period, surviving specimens of RIC IV 3 are considerably less numerous in archaeological deposits and hoards than the abundant lifetime issues of Maximinus depicting Salus, Pax, or Fides Militum. In hoards terminating around the mid-third century, sestertii of Paulina frequently display moderate to significant wear, demonstrating that they remained in commercial circulation for decades after their initial release. The continued utility of large base metal coins during the crisis of the third century meant that even commemorative and religious issues were actively used in daily market transactions until rampant debasement of the silver coinage eventually compromised the traditional bronze denominations during the joint reign of Valerian and Gallienus.

References

1. I Grandi Bronzi Imperiali: Vol. V. pp. 12-14
2. Coins of the Roman Empire. pp. 80-84
3. Roman Coins from the Earliest Times to the Fall of the Western Empire. pp. 142-145
4. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC IV Paulina 3. RIC IV Paulina 3
5. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Vol. IV, Part II: Macrinus to Pupienus. p. 153, no. 3