Philip the Arab Silver Antoninianus RIC IV Philip I 40B

Monetary Context and the Antoninianus

The monetary system during the reign of Philip the Arab (AD 244 to 249) was characterized by the dominance of the antoninianus or radiate double denarius. First introduced by Caracalla in AD 215, temporarily curtailed under Severus Alexander, and subsequently revived by Pupienus, Balbinus, and Gordian III, the denomination rapidly marginalized the traditional silver denarius. By the time Philip secured power in early AD 244, regular denarius production at the imperial capital had been reduced to a marginal, ceremonial output, leaving the radiate as the central vehicle for mass state expenditures, troop payments, and administrative outlays. The intrinsic economic reality of the denomination was fundamentally fiduciary: although it circulated at an official tariff equal to two denarii, its typical metallurgical mass was only about one and a half times that of a contemporary denarius, offering a lucrative fiscal margin for the imperial fiscus. Metallurgical studies of third-century silver indicate that during the mid-240s AD, the antoninianus hovered around forty to forty-five percent fine silver, with the remainder composed of a copper-rich alloy. RIC IV Philip I 40B falls directly within this monetary environment. The pressure of maintaining immense military commitments along the Danubian and eastern frontiers, coupled with substantial accession donatives and external cash settlements, demanded vast outputs of billon radiates. The rapid turnover of these issues reflects an administration attempting to balance structural deficit financing against the necessity of civic and military credibility.

Production and the Rome Mint

RIC IV Philip I 40B was struck exclusively at the imperial mint in the city of Rome. During the middle of the third century AD, the Rome mint was organized into a series of distinct operational workshops, known as officinae, which divided production quotas and thematic assignments among designated engraving and striking teams. Numismatic analyses of the early issues of Philip the Arab demonstrate that the Rome facility operated with at least six principal officinae. While later series, particularly the massive ludi saeculares issues celebrating Rome's millennium in AD 248, began to incorporate explicit workshop markings in the form of Roman or Greek numerals in the reverse fields or exergue, the earlier series dating between AD 244 and 247 were predominantly unmarked. Production involved casting billon flans of irregular circular shape, which were subsequently cold- or warm-struck between hand-held upper and lower dies. The mass of surviving examples of this type shows a standard weight clustering around 3.8 to 4.4 grams, though broader fluctuations are common due to looser tolerances at the mint. Die alignment varies across surviving specimens, reflecting the manual striking process where reverse dies were rotated independently rather than mechanically fixed. The output of RIC IV Philip I 40B was substantial, contributing to an extensive initial wave of metropolitan coinage designed to flood urban markets and military camps with the portrait of the new Augustus.

Obverse Iconography and Imperial Portraiture

The obverse of RIC IV Philip I 40B presents a standard imperial portrait of Philip the Arab, executed in the severe veristic style typical of mid-third-century soldier-emperors. The emperor is shown facing right, wearing the radiate crown, which is the defining numismatic attribute distinguishing the antoninianus from the laureate denarius. His bust is depicted with both drapery and a military cuirass (paludamentum over armor), viewed from the side or slightly from behind, projecting an image of martial vigilance and readiness. Philip's physiognomy is rendered with heavy facial contours, a firm, squared jaw, a closely trimmed military beard, and deeply etched furrowed brows. This portrait tradition deliberately eschewed the idealized Hellenistic classicism of the Antonine age in favor of a stern, pragmatic realism that communicated discipline, seniority, and soldierly capability to the Roman legions. The engraving style at Rome during this period achieved a high degree of technical competence, rendering the spikes of the radiate crown with sharp relief and clearly articulating the folds of the paludamentum over the shoulder plate. Die cutters maintained strict adherence to this visual template throughout the AD 244 to 247 period, ensuring that the sovereign authority on the obverse retained immediate visual recognizability across the provinces.

Reverse Iconography and the Representation of Pax

The reverse of RIC IV Philip I 40B features Pax, the divine personification of peace and civic harmony, standing toward the left. She is depicted draped in a traditional long stola, conveying grace, domestic stability, and classical virtue. In her outstretched right hand, Pax holds an olive branch, the universally recognized Graeco-Roman emblem of reconciled conflict, reconciliation, and agrarian prosperity. In her left hand, she supports a long spear or sceptre held transversally, angled across her body. The presence of the transverse spear rather than a vertical sceptre is the critical iconographic attribute separating type 40B from neighboring catalogue variants such as RIC IV Philip I 40A, which exhibits a vertical sceptre. This specific stance, combining the peaceful branch with the martial weapon carried in an inactive, slanting posture, captured a vital ideological balance. It signaled that peace had been achieved not through submission or disarray, but through imperial strength and military readiness. In the political context of AD 244, following the negotiated settlement with the Sasanian Empire that permitted Philip to secure the throne and withdraw the Roman army intact from Mesopotamia, the personification of Pax functioned as urgent public propaganda. It sought to present a controversial diplomatic retreat and costly indemnity as a noble, enduring pacification of the Roman world.

Inscriptions and Epigraphic Analysis

The epigraphy on RIC IV Philip I 40B is compact, unambiguous, and executed in standard Roman capital letters. The obverse legend reads IMP M IVL PHILIPPVS AVG, an abbreviation of the Latin formula Imperator Marcus Iulius Philippus Augustus. This legend asserts Philip's supreme military command through the title Imperator, records his gentilicium and family name derived from his citizenship lineage, and concludes with Augustus, the definitive title of senior imperial sovereignty. Notably, this legend omits tribunician numbering, consular designations, or pontifical titles, which were reserved for specialized dated issues. The reverse legend reads PAX AETERN, which expands to Pax Aeterna (Eternal Peace). Unlike simple invocations of Pax or Pax Augusti, which framed peace as a personal gift or temporary virtue of the ruling princeps, Pax Aeterna proclaimed a perpetual state of security guaranteed by the gods and imperial governance. Epigraphically, the abbreviation AETERN rather than the full AETERNA reflects standard practice on mid-third-century reverse dies, where space along the upper circumference was constrained by the standing figure and her attributes. The lettering is cleanly cut, with well-formed serifs on imperial mint dies, demonstrating the disciplined output of the Rome engraving studios during the opening years of the reign.

Typology and Chronological Classification

In the standard classification scheme of The Roman Imperial Coinage, volume IV, part III, compiled by Harold Mattingly, Edward A. Sydenham, and C. H. V. Sutherland, this issue is catalogued specifically as number 40B. It forms part of the large unmintmarked series struck at Rome during the first half of Philip's reign, dating between AD 244 and AD 247. Typologically, RIC 40 is divided into primary variants based on the attribute held in the left hand of Pax: 40A features Pax holding a vertical sceptre, whereas 40B features Pax holding a transverse spear or sceptre. Additionally, related radiate types from the same broad substantive issue employ alternative legends, such as PAX FVNDATA or PAX EXERCITVS, which were targeted at different administrative audiences. The chronological positioning of RIC 40B precedes the massive reform and commemorative issues of AD 248, which were produced for the celebration of Rome's Saeculum Novum and were marked with distinct workshop letters. While some older numismatic literature assigned broad date brackets covering Philip's entire reign (AD 244 to 249), stylistic grouping of obverse bust styles and hoard sequences securely isolate the production of RIC 40B to the initial triennium of the reign, during which the Rome mint systematically consolidated the visual program of the new regime.

Circulation, Hoards, and Archaeological Context

As a regular metropolitan issue produced in substantial numbers, RIC IV Philip I 40B circulated widely across the Roman Empire. Archaeological findspots and hoard evidence demonstrate that coins of this type traveled rapidly from the mint at Rome to military zones along the Rhine and Danube frontiers, as well as to provincial centers throughout Gaul, Britain, and the Balkans. In major third-century hoards, such as the Dorchester hoard in Roman Britain and various continental deposits in modern France, Germany, and Romania, radiates of Philip the Arab regularly constitute a significant chronological component. Because the alloy of Philip's antoniniani remained relatively consistent with that of Gordian III, these coins were readily integrated into existing monetary circulation without triggering immediate hoarding or selection against older issues. However, during the severe inflationary spiral and drastic debasements under Gallienus and Claudius Gothicus in the AD 260s, radiates struck under Philip the Arab were actively removed from daily circulation. Their higher intrinsic silver content compared to the copper-washed radiates of the late 260s prompted individuals to cache them in large quantities, ensuring that numerous well-preserved specimens survived in subterranean deposits across the former imperial territories.

References

1. Coin Hoards and Hoarding in the Roman Empire. Third-century hoards and silver debasement
2. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC IV Philip I 40B. ric.4.ph_i.40B
3. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Volume IV, Part III: Gordian III - Uranius Antoninus. p. 72, no. 40b