Julia Domna, Augusta, 193-217. Antoninianus (Silver, 23 mm, 4.99 g, 6 h), Rome, 215. IVLIA PIA FELIX AVG Diademed and draped bust of Julia Domna to right. Rev. VENERI GENETRICI Venus standing front, head to left, extending her right hand and holding long scepter in her left. BMC 20. Cohen 186. Hill, Coinage 1470. 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/R10. Very rare. Lightly toned. Slightly rough and with light scratches, otherwise, nearly 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.

In 2011, Geneviève and Doyen identified twenty-two antoniniani of Julia Domna without the crescent, divided among three types. 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 III, 69; the other in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, unpublished), a third was offered in Leu 21 (2026), 386. 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 not a denarius but a very rare early antoninianus, and offers an exceptional insight into the beginnings of the denomination that would come to dominate Roman coinage for much of the third century.