SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS 193AD Marcianopolis in Moesia EAGLE Ancient Roman Coin i48536

Description

Item:
i48536
Authentic Ancient

Coin of:
Septimius Severus
–
Roman Emperor
: 193-211 A.D. –
Bronze 15mm (2.54 grams)
<="" font="" color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">of
Marcianopolis
in Moesia Inferior
Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right.
MAPKIANOΠOΛITΩN,
Eagle standing facing with open wings and head right.
You are bidding on the exact
item pictured, provided with a Certificate of Authenticity and Lifetime
Guarantee of Authenticity.
Jupiter is usually thought to have originated as a sky god. His identifying
implement is the
thunderbolt
, and his primary sacred animal is
the
eagle
, which held precedence over other birds in the taking of
auspices
and became one of the most
common
symbols of the
Roman army
(see
Aquila
). The two emblems were often combined to
represent the god in the form of an eagle holding in its claws a thunderbolt,
frequently seen on Greek and Roman coins. As the sky-god, he was a divine
witness to oaths, the sacred trust on which justice and good government depend.
Many of his functions were focused on the
Capitoline
(“Capitol Hill”), where the
citadel
was located. He was the chief deity of
the
early Capitoline Triad
with
Mars
and
Quirinus
. In the
later Capitoline Triad
, he was the central
guardian of the state with
Juno
and
Minerva
. His sacred tree was the oak. The
Romans regarded Jupiter as the
equivalent
of the Greek
Zeus
, and in
Latin literature
and
Roman art
, the myths and iconography of Zeus
are adapted under the name
Iuppiter
.
An
aquila
, or
eagle
, was a prominent symbol used in
ancient Rome
, especially as the
standard
of a
Roman legion
. A
legionary
known as an
aquilifer
, or eagle-bearer, carried this
standard. Each legion carried one eagle. The eagle was extremely important to
the Roman military, beyond merely being a symbol of a legion. A lost standard
was considered an extremely grave occurrence, and the Roman military often went
to great lengths to both protect a standard and to recover it if lost; for
example, see the aftermath of the
Battle of the Teutoburg Forest
, where the
Romans spent decades attempting to recover the lost standards of three legions.
L
ucius Septimius Severus
(or rarely
Severus I
) (April 11,

145/146-February 4, 211) was a
Roman
general, and
Roman

Emperor
from April 14, 193 to 211. He was born in what is now the
Berber
part of

Rome’s historic
Africa Province
.
Septimius Severus was born and raised at
Leptis

Magna
(modern
Berber
, southeast of
Carthage
,

modern
Tunisia
).

Severus came from a wealthy, distinguished family of
equestrian
rank. Severus was of
Italian
Roman ancestry on his mother’s side and of
Punic
or
Libyan
-Punic

ancestry on his father’s. Little is known of his father,
Publius Septimius Geta
, who held no major political status but had two

cousins who served as consuls under emperor
Antoninus Pius
. His mother, Fulvia Pia’s family moved from
Italy
to
North

Africa
and was of the
Fulvius
gens,

an ancient and politically influential clan, which was originally of
plebeian
status. His siblings were a younger
Publius Septimius Geta
and Septimia Octavilla. Severus’s maternal cousin was
Praetorian Guard
and consul
Gaius Fulvius Plautianus
.
In 172, Severus was made a
Senator
by the then emperor
Marcus Aurelius
. In 187 he married secondly
Julia

Domna
. In 190 Severus became
consul
, and in

the following year received from the emperor
Commodus
(successor to Marcus Aurelius) the command of the
legions
in
Pannonia
.
On the murder of
Pertinax
by

the troops in 193, they proclaimed Severus Emperor at
Carnuntum
,

whereupon he hurried to Italy. The former emperor,
Didius Julianus
, was condemned to death by the Senate and killed, and

Severus took possession of Rome without opposition.
The legions of
Syria
, however, had proclaimed
Pescennius Niger
emperor. At the same time, Severus felt it was reasonable

to offer
Clodius Albinus
, the powerful governor of Britannia who had probably

supported Didius against him, the rank of Caesar, which implied some claim to

succession. With his rearguard safe, he moved to the East and crushed Niger’s

forces at the
Battle of Issus
. The following year was devoted to suppressing Mesopotamia

and other Parthian vassals who had backed Niger. When afterwards Severus

declared openly his son
Caracalla
as successor, Albinus was hailed emperor by his troops and moved to Gallia.

Severus, after a short stay in Rome, moved northwards to meet him. On
February

19
,
197
,

in the
Battle of Lugdunum
, with an army of 100,000 men, mostly composed of
Illyrian
,
Moesian
and
Dacian
legions,

Severus defeated and killed Clodius Albinus, securing his full control over the

Empire.
Emperor
Severus was at heart a
soldier
, and

sought glory through military exploits. In 197 he waged a brief and successful

war against the
Parthian Empire
in retaliation for the support given to Pescennius Niger.

The Parthian capital
Ctesiphon
was sacked by the legions, and the northern half of
Mesopotamia
was restored to Rome.
His relations with the
Roman

Senate
were never good. He was unpopular with them from the outset, having

seized power with the help of the military, and he returned the sentiment.

Severus ordered the execution of dozens of Senators on charges of corruption and
conspiracy
against him, replacing them with his own favorites.
He also disbanded the
Praetorian Guard
and replaced it with one of his own, made up of 50,000

loyal soldiers mainly camped at
Albanum
, near Rome (also probably to grant the emperor a kind of centralized

reserve). During his reign the number of legions was also increased from 25/30

to 33. He also increased the number of auxiliary corps (
numerii
), many of

these troops coming from the Eastern borders. Additionally the annual wage for a

soldier was raised from 300 to 500
denarii
.
Although his actions turned Rome into a military
dictatorship
, he was popular with the citizens of Rome, having stamped out

the rampant corruption of Commodus’s reign. When he returned from his victory

over the Parthians, he erected the
Arch of Septimius Severus
in Rome.
According to Cassius Dio,

however, after 197 Severus fell heavily under the influence of his Praetorian

Prefect,
Gaius Fulvius Plautianus
, who came to have almost total control of most

branches of the imperial administration. Plautianus’s daughter,
Fulvia Plautilla
, was married to Severus’s son, Caracalla. Plautianus’s

excessive power came to an end in 205, when he was denounced by the Emperor’s

dying brother and killed.

The two following
praefecti
, including the jurist
Aemilius Papinianus
, received however even larger powers.
Campaigns in Caledonia (Scotland)
Starting from 208 Severus undertook a number of military actions in
Roman

Britain
, reconstructing
Hadrian’s Wall
and campaigning in
Scotland
.
He reached the area of the
Moray

Firth
in his last campaign in Caledonia, as was called Scotland by
the Romans..

In 210 obtained a peace with the
Picts
that lasted

practically until the final withdrawal of the Roman legions from Britain,

before falling severely ill in
Eboracum
(
York
).
Death
He is famously said to have given the advice to his sons: “Be harmonious,

enrich the soldiers, and scorn all other men” before he died at Eboracum on
February 4
,
211
. Upon his death in 211, Severus was
deified
by the Senate and succeeded by his sons,
Caracalla
and
Geta
, who were advised by his wife
Julia

Domna
. The stability Severus provided the Empire was soon gone under their reign.
Accomplishments and Record
Though his military expenditure was costly to the empire, Severus was the

strong, able ruler that Rome needed at the time. He began a tradition of

effective emperors elevated solely by the military. His policy of an expanded

and better-rewarded army was criticized by his contemporary
Dio Cassius
and
Herodianus
: in particular, they pointed out the increasing burden (in the

form of taxes and services) the civilian population had to bear to maintain the

new army.
Severus was also distinguished for his buildings. Apart from the triumphal

arch in the Roman Forum carrying his full name, he also built the
Septizodium
in Rome and enriched greatly his native city of
Leptis

Magna
(including another triumphal arch on the occasion of his visit of

203).
Severus and Christianity
Christians were
persecuted
during the reign of Septimus Severus. Severus allowed the

enforcement of policies already long-established, which meant that Roman

authorities did not intentionally seek out Christians, but when people were

accused of being Christians they could either curse
Jesus
and make an

offering to
Roman gods
, or be executed. Furthermore, wishing to strengthen the peace by

encouraging religious harmony through
syncretism
,

Severus tried to limit the spread of the two quarrelsome groups who refused to

yield to syncretism by outlawing
conversion
to Christianity or
Judaism
.

Individual officials availed themselves of the laws to proceed with rigor

against the Christians. Naturally the emperor, with his strict conception of

law, did not hinder such partial persecution, which took place in
Egypt
and the
Thebaid
, as

well as in
Africa proconsularis
and the East. Christian
martyrs
were

numerous in
Alexandria
(cf.
Clement of Alexandria
,
Stromata
, ii. 20;
Eusebius
,
Church History
, V., xxvi., VI., i.). No less severe were

the persecutions in Africa, which seem to have begun in 197 or 198 (cf.
Tertullian’s
Ad martyres
), and included the Christians known in the
Roman martyrology
as the martyrs of
Madaura
.

Probably in 202 or 203
Felicitas
and
Perpetua
suffered for their faith. Persecution again raged for a short time

under the proconsul
Scapula
in

211, especially in
Numidia
and
Mauritania
.

Later accounts of a
Gallic
persecution, especially at
Lyon
, are

legendary. In general it may thus be said that the position of the Christians

under Septimius Severus was the same as under the
Antonines
;

but the law of this Emperor at least shows clearly that the
rescript
of
Trajan
[
clarification

needed
]
had failed to execute its purpose.
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