SEVERUS ALEXANDER Artemis Diana Lucifera Moon Roman Provincial Mint Coin i48881

Description

Item:
i48881
Authentic Ancient

Coin of:
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Severus Alexander
–
Roman Emperor
: 222-235 A.D.
Bronze 18mm (2.97 grams) of
Roman provincial mint
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Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right.
Artemis (Diana Lucifera) standing right, holding two long torches.
Diana
Lucifera,
the bringer of light. In exchanging the
bow and arrow for the torch, allusion is made here to her other titles and
qualities, as
Lucifera
, or as
Luna
(moon), whose light being
borrowed from the Sun, she was styled his sister.
You are bidding on the exact item pictured,

provided with a Certificate of Authenticity and Lifetime Guarantee of

Authenticity.
Artemis
was one of the most widely venerated of the Ancient Greek
deities. Some scholars believe that the name, and indeed the goddess herself,
was originally pre-Greek. Homer refers to her as
Artemis Agrotera,
Potnia Theron
< Artemis of the wildland, Mistress of Animals". In the classical period of
Greek mythology
, Artemis (
Greek
:
(
nominative
)
Ἄρτεμις
, (
genitive
)
Ἀρτέμιδος
) was often
described as the daughter of
Zeus
and
Leto
, and the twin sister of
Apollo
. She was the Hellenic goddess of the
hunt, wild animals, wilderness, childbirth, virginity and young girls, bringing
and relieving disease in women; she often was depicted as a huntress carrying a
bow and arrows. The
deer
and the
cypress
were sacred to her. In later
Hellenistic times, she even assumed the ancient role of
Eileithyia
in aiding childbirth.
Artemis later became identified with
Selene
, a
Titaness
who was a Greek moon goddess,
sometimes depicted with a crescent moon above her head. She was also identified
with the Roman goddess
Diana
, with the
Etruscan
goddess
Artume
, and with the Greek or
Carian
goddess
Hecate
.
SEVERUS ALEXANDER
Augustus:
A.D. 222-235
Caesar:
A.D. 221-222 under Elagabalus
Son of Julia Mamaea
Husband of Orbiana
Grandson of Julia Maesa
Nephew of Julia Soaemias
Cousin of Elagabalus
Second-cousin of Caracalla and Geta
Great-newphew of Septimius Severus and Julia Domna
Marcus

Aurelius Severus Alexander
(October 1, 208–March 18, 235 AD), commonly

called
Alexander Severus
, was the last
Roman emperor
(11 March 222–235) of the
Severan dynasty
. Alexander Severus succeeded his cousin,
Elagabalus
upon the latter’s assassination in 222 AD, and was ultimately assassinated

himself, marking the
epoch event
for the
Crisis of the Third Century
—nearly fifty years of disorder, Roman civil

wars, economic chaos, regional rebellions, and external threats that brought the

Empire to near-collapse.
Alexander Severus was the
heir

apparent
to his cousin, the eighteen-year-old Emperor who had been murdered

along with his mother by his own guards—and as a mark of contempt, had their

remains cast into the
Tiber river
. He and his cousin were both grandsons of the influential and

powerful
Julia Maesa
, who had arranged for Elagabalus’ acclamation as Emperor by the

famed
Third Gallic Legion
.
A rumor of Alexander’s death circulated, triggering the assassination of

Elagabalus.
Alexander’s reign was marked by troubles. In military conflict against the

rising
Sassanid Empire
, there are mixed accounts, though the Sassanid threat was

checked. However, when campaigning against
Germanic tribes
of
Germania
,

Alexander Severus apparently alienated his legions by trying diplomacy and

bribery, and they assassinated him.
Life
Alexander was born with the name
Marcus Julius Gessius Bassianus Alexianus
.

Alexander’s father,
Marcus Julius Gessius Marcianus
was a Syrian
Promagistrate
. His mother
Julia Avita Mamaea
was the second daughter of
Julia

Maesa
and Syrian noble
Julius Avitus
and maternal aunt of Emperor
Elagabalus
.

He had an elder sister called Theoclia and little is known about her.

Alexander’s maternal great-aunt was empress
Julia

Domna
(also Maesa’s younger sister) and his great-uncle in marriage was

emperor Lucius
Septimius Severus
. Emperors
Caracalla
and
Publius Septimius Geta
, were his mother’s maternal cousins. In 221,

Alexander’s grandmother, Maesa, persuaded the emperor to adopt his cousin as

successor and make him
Caesar
and Bassianus changed his name to Alexander. In the following

year, on March 11, Elagabalus was murdered, and Alexander was proclaimed emperor

by the
Praetorians
and accepted by the Senate.
When Alexander became emperor, he was young, amiable, well-meaning, and

entirely under the dominion of his mother. Julia Mamaea was a woman of many

virtues, and she surrounded the young emperor with wise counsellors. She watched

over the development of her son’s character and improved the tone of the

administration. On the other hand, she was inordinately jealous. She also

alienated the army by extreme parsimony, and neither she nor her son were strong

enough to impose military discipline. Mutinies became frequent in all parts of

the empire; to one of them the life of the jurist and praetorian praefect
Ulpian
was

sacrificed; another compelled the retirement of
Cassius

Dio
from his command.
On the whole, however, the reign of Alexander was prosperous until the rise,

in the east, of the
Sassanids
. Of the war that followed there are various accounts. (
Mommsen
leans to that which is least favourable to the Romans). According to Alexander’s

own dispatch to the senate, he gained great victories. At all events, though the

Sassanids were checked for the time, the conduct of the Roman army showed an

extraordinary lack of discipline. The emperor returned to
Rome
and celebrated

a triumph in 233.
The following year he was called to face German invaders in
Gaul
, who had

breached the Rhine frontier in several places, destroying forts and over-running

the countryside. Alexander mustered his forces, bringing legions from the

eastern provinces, and crossed the Rhine into Germany on a pontoon bridge.

Initially he attempted to buy the German tribes off, so as to gain time. Whether

this was a wise policy or not, it caused the Roman legionaries to look down on

their emperor as one who was prepared to commit unsoldierly conduct.
Herodian
says “in their opinion Alexander showed no honourable intention to pursue the

war and preferred a life of ease, when he should have marched out to punish the

Germans for their previous insolence”. These circumstances drove the army to

look for a new leader. They chose
Gaius Iulius Verus Maximinus
, a Thracian soldier who had worked his way up

through the ranks.
Following the nomination of Maximinus as emperor, Alexander was slain (on

either March 18 or March 19, 235), together with his mother, in a mutiny of the
Primigenia
Legio XXII
. These assassinations secured the throne for

Maximinus.
The death of Alexander is considered as the end of the
Principate
system established by
Augustus
.

Although the
Principate
continued in theory until the reign of
Diocletian
,

Alexander Severus’ death signalled the beginning of the chaotic period known as

the
Crisis of the Third Century
which weakened the empire considerably.
Legacy
Alexander was the last of the Syrian emperors. Under the influence of his

mother, he did much to improve the morals and condition of the people. His

advisers were men like the famous jurist Ulpian, the historian Cassius Dio and a

select board of sixteen senators; a municipal council of fourteen assisted the

urban praefect in administering the affairs of the fourteen districts of Rome.

The luxury and extravagance that had formerly been so prevalent at the court

were put down; the standard of the coinage was raised; taxes were lightened;

literature, art and science were encouraged; the lot of the soldiers was

improved; and, for the convenience of the people, loan offices were instituted

for lending money at a moderate rate of interest.
In religious matters Alexander preserved an open mind. It is said that he was

desirous of erecting a temple to the
founder of

Christianity
, but was dissuaded by the pagan priests.
Marriage
Alexander was married three times. His most famous wife was
Sallustia Orbiana
,
Augusta
,
whom he married in 225. He divorced and exiled her in 227,

after her father,
Seius Sallustius
, was executed for attempting to assassinate the emperor.

Another wife was Sulpicia Memmia. Her father was a man of consular rank; her

grandfather’s name was
Catulus
.
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