Julia Domna, Augusta, 193-217. Antoninianus (Silver, 23 mm, 5.06 g, 6 h), Rome, 215. IVLIA PIA FELIX AVG Diademed and draped bust of Julia Domna to right. Rev. LVNA LVCIFERA Luna, with crescent on head and fold of drapery floating around and above, driving fast biga to left. BMC -. Cohen -. Hill, Coinage 1469. RIC -. V. Geneviève/J.-M. Doyen: Les antoniniens de Julia Domna au buste sans croissant émis dans l'atelier de Rome en 215, in: BCEN 48.1 (2011), p. 332, dies D8/R1-2. Lightly toned. Of the highest rarity, apparently the third known example, and of great numismatic and historic importance. Minor rusty deposits on the reverse, otherwise, good very fine.


The very rare antoniniani of Julia Domna with a plain bust lacking the crescent belong to the very first emission of the new denomination introduced by Caracalla. Unlike the emperor’s antoniniani, which were readily distinguishable from denarii by the radiate crown, already familiar from the dupondius as a mark of doubled value, the issues in Julia Domna’s name at first lacked any comparable distinguishing feature. Her antoniniani therefore differed from her denarii only in their larger diameter and greater weight, which must have led to some confusion between the two denominations.

It was evidently for this reason that, soon afterwards, the crescent was introduced as a new attribute, making the distinction far clearer. At the same time, as a lunar symbol, it formed an appropriate counterpart to the emperor’s solar radiate crown and underscored the association of the imperial house with Sol and Luna, the two principal heavenly bodies. On the present coin, Luna is in fact represented again on the reverse as Luna Lucifera, the 'light-bringing' moon goddess.

In 2011, Geneviève and Doyen identified twenty-two antoniniani of Julia Domna without the crescent, divided among three types. By far the most common is VENERI GENETRICI with Venus standing, represented by nineteen specimens. The LVNA LVCIFERA type was then known from only two examples (one from the Jupille hoard, Belgium, cf. J. Lallemand: Le trésor de Jupille (1895): deniers et antoniniens d’Auguste à Philippe, in: RBN cxiii (1967), p. 31-55, pl. III, 69; the other in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, unpublished), making our coin the third recorded example. The final type, likewise VENERI GENETRICI but with Venus seated, remains known from a single example only. Seemingly unremarkable at first glance, this coin is thus in fact one of the great rarities of the early antoninianus coinage and offers an exceptional insight into the beginnings of the denomination that would come to dominate Roman coinage for much of the third century.