Originally named Varius Avitus Bassianus, Elagabalus was renamed Marcus Aurelius Antoninus to give greater weight to his imperial claim. Elagabalus was successfully installed and for the next four years (AD 218-222) shamed his office with unspeakable acts of depravity and cruelty. The purpose of Maesa’s opposition to Macrinus was to secure the throne for her grandson, Elagabalus, a 14 year old boy priest who takes his name from the sun god he worshipped. Photo 3 shows an antoninianus of Macrinus with a reverse type of Salus. The latter coins, however, are very rare, and all antoniniani of Macrinus are scarce. During his brief tenure of office, Macrinus (AD 217-218) continued to issue the antoninianus, both in his own name and in that of his son, Diadumenian. Macrinus seized the purple and reigned for fourteen months before he, too, met his death at the hands of a rival faction led by Julia Domna’s sister, Julia Maesa. Less than three years after his introduction of the antoninianus, Caracalla was assassinated on the orders of Macrinus, prefect of the praetorian guard. Caracalla was not short of ideas for raising money he is remembered for his granting of Roman citizenship to all free inhabitants of the Empire, which privilege rendered them liable to additional taxation. By this mechanism, the state stood to make a considerable profit over and above the normal fiscal revenue. His reason for doing so must surely have been to collect taxes in denarii, and issue new money in the form of reduced-weight antoniniani. An antoninianus of Domna is shown in photo 2. Caracalla, his commonly used nickname, is based on his predilection for wearing a long Gaulish cloak of that name, and serves to prevent any confusion with his distinguished but unrelated predecessors, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius.Ĭaracalla (AD 198-217) issued significant quantities of antoniniani, both in his own name and in that of his mother, the dowager empress, Julia Domna. The name of the coin is a relatively modern invention derived from the official name of the emperor responsible for its introduction, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. The source of this attribute can be seen on the reverse of the antoninianus of Caracalla shown in photo 1, which depicts Apollo with the sun’s rays surrounding his head. The latter is symbolic of the moon god, Luna, whereas the radiate crown is associated with the sun god, Apollo. When empresses or other female personages are portrayed on antoniniani, the radiate crown is replaced by a crescent under the bust. Since the time of Nero, this device had been employed (but not invariably) on dupondii to indicate their value of two bronze asses a relationship well attested by contemporary sources. In the absence of contemporary references to the new coin, the principal argument for valuing it as a double denarius stems from the emperor’s portrait, which is always depicted with a radiate crown. The large number of ‘official’ emperors reflects the almost continuous power struggle, and the technical and administrative improvements which are evident from the reign of Aurelian herald the re-establishment of central control. The coin’s progressive debasement, for example, clearly signals the economic decline, and the appearance of so many usurpers on the coins gives an insight into the political and military instability. In a very tangible way the antoninianus reflects the turbulence and crises experienced by the Empire during the dark days of the third century, and also the restoration of central control in its last quarter. It had been relegated to the bronze series and served as a minor denomination in a newly restructured coinage system. This represented more than a day’s pay for a legionary soldier of that time, and as the equivalent of 8 sestertii, 16 dupondii or 32 asses, the antoninianus was a valuable coin.Ī little less than one hundred years later, around AD 307, the last direct descendant of this denomination was being struck. At an average weight of around 5 grams, the coin weighed slightly more than one and a half times as much as the silver denarius, but was probably intended to circulate at twice its value. Towards the end of the year AD 214 the Roman emperor, Caracalla, introduced to the imperial monetary system a new denomination of silver coin which we now call the antoninianus.
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