Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XI 7 April 2016
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Severus Alexander AV Aureus. Rome, AD 231. IMP SEV ALEXAND AVG, laureate bust right, slight drapery over far shoulder / VICTORIA AVG, Victory standing left, holding wreath and palm. RIC 211b; Calicó 3138; BMC 699. 6.12g, 20mm, 12h.
Fleur De Coin. Very Rare, the only example on CoinArchives.
Ex Jesus Vico 134, 28 February 2013, lot 399.
In the second period of the reign of Severus Alexander, AD 228-231, the general character of his coinage remains unchanged. The same deities and personifications recur regularly, but at the end of the period we find Profectio, Virtus and Victoria types, which mark the preliminary stages of the campaign against Artaxerxes of Persia.
In AD 227, Artaxerxes had invaded Parthia and overthrown King Artabanus V, proclaiming himself the restorer of the Achaemenids under the title of King of Kings. Having consolidated his position in Media and Persia, he proceeded to overrun Mesopotamia and threaten the provinces of Syria and Cappadocia. News of the impending danger reached Rome in AD 230, and in the following year Alexander and his mother set out for Antioch. Whilst the campaign appears to have brought little credit to the Roman army and still less to the Emperor as a military commander, the desires of Artaxerxes were temporarily arrested and Alexander celebrated a triumph in September AD 232.
The Victory type we find on the reverse of this coin, as in several other cases, may have been anticipatory, rather than commemorative, although it was likely issued in connection with the campaign in the East.
Fleur De Coin. Very Rare, the only example on CoinArchives.
Ex Jesus Vico 134, 28 February 2013, lot 399.
In the second period of the reign of Severus Alexander, AD 228-231, the general character of his coinage remains unchanged. The same deities and personifications recur regularly, but at the end of the period we find Profectio, Virtus and Victoria types, which mark the preliminary stages of the campaign against Artaxerxes of Persia.
In AD 227, Artaxerxes had invaded Parthia and overthrown King Artabanus V, proclaiming himself the restorer of the Achaemenids under the title of King of Kings. Having consolidated his position in Media and Persia, he proceeded to overrun Mesopotamia and threaten the provinces of Syria and Cappadocia. News of the impending danger reached Rome in AD 230, and in the following year Alexander and his mother set out for Antioch. Whilst the campaign appears to have brought little credit to the Roman army and still less to the Emperor as a military commander, the desires of Artaxerxes were temporarily arrested and Alexander celebrated a triumph in September AD 232.
The Victory type we find on the reverse of this coin, as in several other cases, may have been anticipatory, rather than commemorative, although it was likely issued in connection with the campaign in the East.