Septimius Severus Silver Denarius, RIC IV Septimius Severus 252

Monetary and Dynastic Context

The reign of Septimius Severus marked a transformative phase in the structural administration of Roman coinage. Following the turbulent civil wars of AD 193 to 197, Severus recognized that the survival of his new dynasty rested upon the loyalty of the army and the perceived inevitability of his dynastic succession. The Severan administration implemented significant adjustments to imperial finances, raising legionary salaries while simultaneously debasing the silver denarius. The denarius, which had maintained approximately seventy-five to eighty percent silver fineness under Marcus Aurelius and Commodus, was adjusted under Severus around AD 194 to 195 down to an average intrinsic purity of roughly fifty to fifty-five percent. This debasement allowed the state to expand the overall volume of minted coin to meet substantial military payroll obligations without an immediate collapse in public confidence. Within this broader monetary landscape, ideological messaging took on unprecedented visual urgency. The denarius was not merely a medium of trade; it functioned as the principal vehicle for transmitting imperial ideology to soldiers, civic elites, and provincial populations. The specific type registered as RIC IV Septimius Severus 252 was conceived to address anxieties surrounding imperial succession. By AD 202, the Severan household had established a structured dynastic hierarchy. Caracalla held the rank of Augustus alongside his father, while his younger brother Geta served as Caesar. To visually substantiate the concept that imperial power would endure without civil conflict, the mint launched dynastic issues uniting portraits of the senior emperor with those of his two sons. The proclamation of imperial eternity, encapsulated in the motto Aeternitas Imperii, served to bridge fiscal policy and dynastic consolidation, assuring coin users of the regime's lasting strength.

Production and Mint Attribution

The entire production run of RIC IV Septimius Severus 252 is attributed to the imperial mint of Rome. Earlier in his reign, Severus maintained active provincial mints in the East, most notably at Antioch and Laodicea ad Mare, to fund his civil conflicts against Pescennius Niger and his subsequent campaigns against Parthia. However, by AD 202, imperial mint operations had consolidated almost entirely back into the capital city of Rome. The Rome mint was organized into several specialized officinae or workshops capable of striking vast quantities of precious metal coinage with rigorous stylistic consistency. Technically, denarii of this issue were manufactured using traditional manual striking techniques. Flans were cast in open or closed molds to a standard average weight generally falling between 3.0 and 3.4 grams, though individual survivors display broader variations due to mint tolerances and metallic leaching during burial. Once heated to an annealing temperature, blanks were placed between an anvil die and a hand-held punch die before receiving heavy hammer blows. Dies for this type demanded exceptional engraving skill because the reverse required two fully articulated portraits to be rendered within the tight spatial confines of a coin planchet measuring roughly 18 to 20 millimeters in diameter. Surviving specimens show careful centering and compact lettering characteristic of the disciplined engravers operating in Rome during the early third century AD.

Obverse Iconography and Epigraphy

The obverse of RIC IV Septimius Severus 252 presents the mature, laureate portrait of Septimius Severus facing to the right. The portraiture belongs to the emperor's later iconographical type, often designated as the Serapis or Antonine-assimilated style. This portrait reflects Severus's formal self-adoption into the prestigious family of Marcus Aurelius, designed to link his reign with the golden age of the Antonines. The head exhibits the characteristic curly hair and divided beard, with prominent corkscrew locks resting on the brow, visual markers that invoked the divine majesty of Serapis while preserving his mature military demeanor. Around the imperial portrait runs the uninterrupted or lightly spaced Latin legend SEVERVS PIVS AVG. The absence of consular dates, tribunician power increments, or Parthian triumphal epithets marks a decisive shift in Severan titulature that began in AD 201 and became standard by AD 202. The adoption of the title Pius explicitly emphasized Severus's dutiful piety toward the state, the traditional gods, and his adopted Antonine predecessors. This simplified legend remained in regular use at the Rome mint until the emperor's death in AD 211, creating a sleek, legible presentation that directed the viewer's focus directly toward the imperial features.

Reverse Iconography and Design

The reverse design of this issue represents one of the most explicit declarations of familial partnership in the Roman imperial series. The composition depicts two confronting busts: on the left, the laureate head of Caracalla facing right, and on the right, the bareheaded bust of Geta facing left. Both figures are presented in profile, gazing directly toward one another in an arrangement described in numismatic literature as facing or vis-a-vis portraits. The juxtaposition immediately communicated their respective ranks within the imperial hierarchy. Caracalla, having been elevated to Augustus in AD 198, is distinguished by the laurel wreath of supreme executive authority, whereas Geta, designated Caesar in AD 198, remains bareheaded, reflecting his junior standing as heir presumptive. Confronted busts were a sophisticated compositional tool reserved for elite dynastic statements. By bringing the two brothers together on a single reverse die, imperial authorities sought to project an unshakeable fraternal concord. Historical reality contradicted this artistic vision, as the bitter animosity between Caracalla and Geta was already deepening during this period. However, the reverse iconography deliberately suppressed any hint of rivalry, substituting a vision of youthful, complementary leaders working in tandem to support their father's empire. The careful symmetry of the portraiture reflects the highest level of craftsmanship produced by the Rome mint's chief die engravers.

Epigraphic Analysis and Reading

The coin's epigraphy is divided cleanly between imperial authority and political aspiration. On the obverse, the inscription reads SEVERVS PIVS AVG, standing for Severus Pius Augustus. By omitting the gentilicium Septimius and foregoing specific political offices such as Pontifex Maximus or Consul, the legend strips the imperial title down to its most universal and enduring elements: personal name, virtue, and sacred authority. The epithet Pius functions as both a religious justification for rule and a legal continuity claim, aligning Severus with Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. On the reverse, the legend reads AETERNIT IMPERI, an abbreviated dative or genitive formulation of Aeternitas Imperii or Aeternitati Imperii, translating as 'To the Eternity of the Empire' or 'The Eternity of the Empire'. Aeternitas was an ancient Roman personification and abstract virtue symbolizing continuous endurance through divine favor and unbroken succession. By pairing the phrase directly with the busts of Caracalla and Geta, the legend creates an explicit causal connection: the eternity of Roman rule is guaranteed through the physical existence of the imperial heirs. Letter forms are rendered in crisp Roman capitalis rustica, with lettering positioned along the perimeter to frame the confronted portraits without crowding.

Typology and Chronological Placement

Within the typology established by Harold Mattingly and Edward Sydenham in The Roman Imperial Coinage, volume IV, part I, this issue is classified under number 252 within the substantive group of issues bearing the shortened obverse legend SEVERVS PIVS AVG. Mattingly and Sydenham grouped the broader series containing this type within the years AD 202 to 210, spanning from the decennial celebrations following the imperial family's return from the East up to the launch of the British campaigns. Chronological research by Philip V. Hill refined the sequencing of Severan issues at the Rome mint, placing the primary striking of dynastic denarii bearing confronted portraits of Caracalla and Geta around AD 202, with lingering or ceremonial issues extending into the mid-200s AD. The year AD 202 was particularly significant: it marked the decennalia of Septimius Severus, the celebration of his Parthian triumph, the return of the imperial court to Rome, and the marriage of Caracalla to Plautilla. The dynastic types produced during this celebration formed a coherent typological suite that included related denarii presenting Septimius Severus and Julia Domna, or all four members of the imperial family across gold and silver denominations. Because RIC 252 lacks dated consular or tribunician numbers, its precise termination date remains open, leading modern corpora like OCRE to maintain the broader AD 202 to 210 bracket.

Circulation, Hoard Evidence, and Survival

Once released through military disbursements and civil administrative channels, denarii of RIC IV Septimius Severus 252 entered active circulation across both the Mediterranean core and the northern frontier zones. Major hoards found in Britain, the Rhine-Danube limes, and Roman Syria attest to the rapid dispersion of mid-Severan silver. Although the dynastic reverse was celebratory, the coin was struck to full circulation standards and was not treated as a presentation medallion; it circulated freely alongside standard mythological and sacrificial denarii. Because the Severan debasement reduced silver purity to around fifty percent, older pre-Neronian and Antonine denarii with higher silver contents were progressively hoarded or melted down, leaving Severan denarii to dominate domestic transactions by the early third century AD. Surviving specimens of RIC 252 frequently exhibit wear indicative of several decades of prolonged hand-to-hand exchange, with some pieces appearing in hoards concealed as late as the middle of the third century AD during the reigns of the Gordians or Decius. Despite its thematic importance, RIC 252 was struck in smaller numbers than the vast utilitarian issues celebrating military deities or imperial virtues, making well-preserved examples with unworn facing portraits relatively scarce in the archaeological record.

References

1. The Metallurgy of Roman Silver Coinage: From the Reform of Nero to the Reform of Trajan Decius. pp. 581-589
2. The Coinage of Septimius Severus and His Family of the Mint of Rome, A.D. 193-217. pp. 18-24
3. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC IV Septimius Severus 252. ric.4.ss.252
4. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Volume IV, Part I: Pertinax to Geta. p. 119, no. 252