Septimius Severus Bronze As, RIC IV Septimius Severus 682

Monetary Context and Denominational Function

Following the assassination of Commodus in December AD 192 and the rapid succession and violent demises of Pertinax and Didius Julianus in AD 194, Septimius Severus assumed power through military force. Severus immediately inherited a monetary apparatus marked by intense financial strain, wartime expenditures, and severe debasement of the silver denarius. While imperial attention frequently concentrated on silver and gold to satisfy legionary donatives, the regular bronze denominations remained indispensable for daily urban commerce, retail transactions, and domestic administrative accounting throughout Rome and Italy. Within the tri-metallic monetary hierarchy of the Principate, the copper or bronze as functioned as a fractional unit valued at one-sixteenth of a silver denarius and one-quarter of an orichalcum sestertius. Unlike the higher denomination sestertius, which was struck in brass and dominated public imperial display through monumental surfaces, the as maintained an everyday utilitarian role in market exchanges. The emission of RIC IV Septimius Severus 682 reflects the new regime's effort to assert economic continuity and administrative regularity by maintaining civic bronze outputs at the capital. By maintaining the customary senatorial stamp S C (Senatus Consulto) on the reverse field, the Severan administration acknowledged the traditional constitutional framework of bronze minting, even while consolidating autocratic control following the suppression of domestic rivals.

Mint Attribution and Production Techniques

Numismatic consensus attributes RIC IV Septimius Severus 682 securely to the imperial mint of Rome. Although Severus opened regional branch mints in the East, such as at Antioch and Alexandria, to support his military operations against Pescennius Niger, imperial base-metal bronze and orichalcum coinage remained an overwhelming monopoly of the urban mint at Rome during this period. The production process at Rome relied on hot striking of cast flans using hand-carved steel or bronze dies. The physical fabric of the issue aligns with late Antonine and early Severan bronze metallurgy, consisting primarily of copper or low-tin bronze alloys, distinguished from the zinc-rich brass alloys typically reserved for contemporary dupondii and sestertii. Flans for the as during this period generally weighed between 8.5 and 12.0 grams with diameters ranging from 23 to 26 millimeters, though individual specimens demonstrate significant variation arising from manual blank manufacture and weight adjustment by al marco batch standards rather than precise al pezzo weighing. Die axis orientations vary within standard Roman tolerances, typically exhibiting medallic or near-vertical alignments. Workshop organisation at Rome in AD 194 was divided into multiple officinae, and stylistic analysis of the portraiture shows the seasoned craftsmanship of urban die engravers executing state commissions to align Severus with established Antonine imperial conventions.

Obverse Portraiture and Ideological Styling

The obverse of RIC IV Septimius Severus 682 features the laureate head of Septimius Severus facing right. In the early months of his reign, urban die cutters initially grappled with rendering Severus's likeness, occasionally blending his features with the iconography of Pertinax or Antoninus Pius to emphasize continuity and legitimate succession. By late AD 194, however, an individualized imperial portrait style had solidified at the Roman mint. The emperor is depicted with a prominent, slightly aquiline nose, arched eyebrows, and a full, carefully curled beard separated into distinct locks, a stylistic hallmark inspired by traditional philosophical portraiture and Antonine court styles. The laurel wreath encircling the head signifies victorious commander status, tied at the nape of the neck with fluttering ribbons that fall along the base of the truncated neck. This bust style conveys military authority without excessive austerity, projecting an image of calm regal dignity and dynastic stability. In contrast to subsequent Severan portraits that emphasized divine radiance or heroic nudity, this AD 194 type adheres strictly to the civic and martial decorum expected on official senatorial bronze denominations.

Reverse Iconography: Apollo and Imperial Cult

The reverse design of RIC IV Septimius Severus 682 portrays Apollo Augustus standing facing left, dressed in a voluminous, floor-length stola or palla that drapes down to his feet. In his extended right hand, Apollo holds a flat sacrificial patera over the ground or an unseen altar, while his left hand supports an elaborate lyre resting close to his side. The figure represents Apollo in his dual role as citharoedus (lyre-player) and divine patron of ritual harmony and civic purification. Flanking the deity in the lower fields is the large abbreviation S C, denoting Senatus Consulto. The invocation of Apollo carries profound ideological undertones in AD 194. Historically connected to Augustan imagery following the Battle of Actium, Apollo represented the restoration of peace through righteous civil victory, the patron of the arts, and a protector against sickness, disorder, and divine wrath. In the context of the Severan civil wars, this imagery framed Severus's campaigns not as self-serving military usurpations, but as actions guided and blessed by the divine order, bringing an end to the chaotic violence of the preceding two years. The offering with the patera underscores the emperor's piety, while the lyre evokes harmonious governance and legal restoration under the newly established dynasty.

Epigraphic Analysis and Titulature

The legends on RIC IV Septimius Severus 682 provide precise historical markers for dating and administrative messaging. The obverse inscription reads continuously clockwise as L SEPT SEV PERT AVG IMP IIII, beginning from the lower left. This formula abbreviates Lucius Septimius Severus Pertinax Augustus Imperator Quartum. The adoption of the cognomen Pertinax, adopted by Severus upon his acclamation in AD 193, asserted his claim as the legitimate avenger and heir of the venerated reformer Pertinax, whose memory was formally consecrated. The acclamation IMP IIII documents Severus's fourth imperial salutation, awarded in late summer or autumn of AD 194 following successful engagements against Pescennius Niger in Asia Minor, culminating in the major victory at Issus. The reverse legend reads APOLLINI AVGVSTO, placed circumferentially around the upper periphery, with S C situated across the lower field. The dative dedication APOLLINI AVGVSTO explicitly offers honor 'To the Augustan Apollo' or 'To Apollo who protects the Emperor,' linking the god's personal favor directly to the ruling Augustus. The clear, deeply cut capital letters are characteristic of the primary Rome mint workshops, which maintained disciplined epigraphic spacing and uniform letter heights throughout the Severan period.

Typology, Variants, and Chronological Placement

Within the typology of RIC Volume IV, type 682 is classified as an imperial bronze as struck specifically during the year AD 194. The sequence of Severus's imperial acclamations provides an unyielding chronological bracket: IMP III and IMP IIII were both assumed during AD 194 as news of Eastern victories reached Rome. Type 682 corresponds directly to parallel emissions in other metals and denominations produced in the same programmatic issue, notably the sestertius (RIC IV 680) and dupondius (RIC IV 681), which share the APOLLINI AVGVSTO reverse type and similar obverse legends. Minor stylistic variants exist among preserved dies of RIC IV 682, primarily involving the exact draping of Apollo's garment, the size and angle of the patera, the placement of the field letters S C relative to the drapery, and minor shifts in legend line breaks around the laureate bust. These variations represent the individual hands of different engravers working contemporaneously within the urban officinae rather than separate substantive issues. By late AD 194 and early AD 195, Severus received his fifth, sixth, and seventh imperatorial salutations, quickly superseding the IMP IIII legend formula and concluding the production window for this exact catalogue type.

Circulation Patterns and Archaeological Evidence

As a base-metal fraction, RIC IV Septimius Severus 682 was struck primarily to satisfy the liquidity requirements of the domestic civilian economy rather than foreign trade or international commerce. Bronze asses of this period circulated widely across the central Mediterranean, throughout the Italian peninsula, and along western continental frontiers, including Gaul, the Rhine, and the Danube. Due to their modest purchasing power, asses frequently remained in local retail circulation for decades, suffering substantial wear before eventual loss or disposal. Hoard evidence and excavation contexts from military castra and urban settlements across the western provinces demonstrate that mid-to-late imperial bronze coin pools were heavily cumulative: coins of the early Severan era circulated alongside worn Antonine, Hadrianic, and even Flavian base-metal pieces well into the third century AD. Because wartime mobilization in AD 194 directed considerable bullion resources toward eastern campaigning, Rome-mint bronze issues carrying IMP IIII were issued in measured quantities, circulating as steady fractional currency rather than as massive inflationary pay distributions. By the mid-third century AD, structural inflation and the eventual collapse of the traditional bronze denominational system led to the widespread demonetization or recycling of imperial asses like RIC 682 into larger, debased radiates.

References

1. A Catalogue of the Roman Coins in the British Museum: Coins of the Roman Empire, Vol. V. nos. 540-544
2. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, Vol. V: Pertinax to Elagabalus. pp. 128-132
3. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC IV Septimius Severus 682. ric.4.ss.682
4. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Vol. IV, Part I: Pertinax to Geta. p. 154, no. 682