Watch List notes:

The Roman Empire
Septimius Severus, 193 – 211

Sestertius 210, Æ 18.90 g. L – SEPT SEVE – RVS PIVS AVG Laureate head r. Rev. P M TR P XVIII COS III P P Severus and Caracalla, both veiled, standing vis-à-vis and sacrificing over altar; behind them, in the centre, figure of Concordia or Pietas. In exergue, S C. C 560. BMC 191. RIC 798.
Very rare. A lovely brown patina and a pleasant portrait, about extremely fine


Ex J. Schulman 243, 1966, Graham, 1981 and R. Schulman 291, 1990, 1117 sales.

In A.D. 208 Septimius Severus decided that a campaign to subdue the northern half of Britannia was in order. For years the Picts had proved troublesome, but news had recently arrived in Rome that the northern barbarians had invaded yet again, wreaking considerable havoc in the Roman settlements to the south and leaving much death and destruction in their wake. The emperor, his wife Julia Domna and two sons, Caracalla and Geta, arrived in Britain in early A.D. 209, and the emperor immediately set about the task of subduing the lands of the Picts. Both the Firth of Forth and the Tay were bridged and a network of forts and encampments were built. The Romans quickly subdued their enemies, inflicting such a decisive defeat that the Picts were compelled to surrender late in the year. Severus took this opportunity to elevate his younger son, Geta, to the rank of Augustus, and also assumed the title Britannicus, at the same time also bestowing the title on both of his sons.

This coin was struck in A.D. 210, and the reverse depicts the imperial brothers jointly sacrificing over a tripod while being watched over by a veiled figure variously described as Pietas or Concordia (and sometime erroneously described as the emperor himself). The type was employed for coins struck in the names of all three imperial colleagues. Both Dio Cassius and Herodian tell us that the reason Septimius Severus took his family to Britain when he should have perhaps delegated the task to a subordinate was partly to remove his sons from the indolent lives they were leading in the capital. The brothers' hatred for one another ran deep, and the emperor possibly felt that the experience in Britain would serve to unite them. Needless to say, it did not.

The peace treaty established between Rome and the Picts did not last, and in A.D. 210 the tribes revolted. By this time Severus had already fallen gravely ill, and thus the conduct for the Roman campaign was left in the hands of Caracalla, with Geta serving an administrative role at Eburacum (York). Severus's health continued to deteriorate, and he died at York in early A.D. 211. Caracalla quickly settled affairs in Britain, and the family left for Rome. The British campaigns did nothing to ameliorate the animosity that the imperial brothers shared, for Caracalla sent his henchmen to murder his younger brother, whom they stabbed while he was seeking protection in the arms of his mother, Julia Domna.