(115) Macrinus - AV aureus, A.D. 217, 6.32 g. (inv. 91.203).
Obverse: Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust of Macrinus r.; IMP(ERATOR)
C(AESAR) M(ARCVS) OPEL(LIVS) SEV(ERVS) MACRINVS AVG(VSTVS): Imperator Caesar
Marcus Opellius Severus Macrinus Augustus.
Reverse: Fides standing facing with head r., r. foot on helmet, standard
in each hand; PONTIF(EX) MAX(IMVS) TR(IBVNICIA) P(OTESTATE) CO(N)S(VL) P(ATER)
P(ATRIAE): pontifex maximus, with tribunician power, consul,
father of the country.
Provenance: Ex M. Hyman Montague collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art;
Sotheby's, 1972.
Bibliography: H. Mattingly, E.A. Sydenham, and C.H.V. Sutherland, The
Roman Imperial Coinage IV.2: Macrinus to Pupienus (London 1938) 22.
Marcus Opellius Macrinus came from North Africa and rose to the position
of praetorian prefect under Caracalla. He was involved in the conspiracy
to murder the emperor and was made emperor after it succeeded. He adopted
the name Severus in order to legitimize his and his son's succession. His
military campaigns were unsuccessful, with the result that he had to buy
peace from the Parthians and provide a donative to keep his troops loyal,
but in the end they deserted him in favor of Elagabalus, and he was captured
and executed.
Macrinus' coinage reveals apparent indecision about how the emperor should
be portrayed, since some coins show him with the usual curly hair and long
beard of the Antonine dynasty while others such as this aureus depict him
as a military man in the mold of Caracalla, the second type probably an
attempt to win the favor of his disaffected troops. The reverses of Macrinus'
coins depict conventional types, but it may be that Fides, the personification
of loyalty, here also appeals to his troops. Fides has numerous attributes,
but the standards she holds in both hands here indicate that the loyalty
in question is military.
C.L.L.
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