Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XIII 23 March 2017
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Septimius Severus Ӕ Sestertius. Rome, AD 203. SEVERVS PIVS AVG P M TR P XI, laureate and cuirassed bust right / INDVLGENTIA AVGG, Dea Caelestis(?) riding right on lion, holding drum and sceptre, over waters gushing from rock; SC in right field, IN CARTH in exergue. Hill, Severus 619 var. (bust type); BMC -; RIC -, cf. 759 (As). 30.84g, 32mm, 6h.
Near Extremely Fine. Extremely Rare.
As he hailed from Leptis Magna in the province of Africa, the production of coins under Septimius Severus bearing this interesting reverse scene and specifically referencing Carthage in the legend have traditionally been taken to mark the granting of a special favour to this city of his native land. It is often suggested that perhaps Severus caused to have built a new aqueduct to improve the water supply, based on the presence of water in the design, though being struck as it was in AD 203 after his successful campaign during the previous year this issue is perhaps more likely to be celebrating the newly expanded and refortified province of Africa as a whole.
Although not being named on the coin, that the figure on the reverse is the principle female deity of Carthage, Dea Caelestis, is a generally accepted point. Also understood is Severus' attachment to the province of Africa, and therefore we can assume a continued reverence and worship of the traditional deities of the land by the Emperor. Perhaps then we might see in the scene depicted here the emperor appropriating the local deity of Carthage and carrying her to Rome over the waves of the Mediterranean, just as we see the similar action taken by a later emperor of the Severan dynasty marked in the numismatic record with reverse types showing the transportation of the sacred Stone of Emesa to Rome by Elagabalus in 218.
Near Extremely Fine. Extremely Rare.
As he hailed from Leptis Magna in the province of Africa, the production of coins under Septimius Severus bearing this interesting reverse scene and specifically referencing Carthage in the legend have traditionally been taken to mark the granting of a special favour to this city of his native land. It is often suggested that perhaps Severus caused to have built a new aqueduct to improve the water supply, based on the presence of water in the design, though being struck as it was in AD 203 after his successful campaign during the previous year this issue is perhaps more likely to be celebrating the newly expanded and refortified province of Africa as a whole.
Although not being named on the coin, that the figure on the reverse is the principle female deity of Carthage, Dea Caelestis, is a generally accepted point. Also understood is Severus' attachment to the province of Africa, and therefore we can assume a continued reverence and worship of the traditional deities of the land by the Emperor. Perhaps then we might see in the scene depicted here the emperor appropriating the local deity of Carthage and carrying her to Rome over the waves of the Mediterranean, just as we see the similar action taken by a later emperor of the Severan dynasty marked in the numismatic record with reverse types showing the transportation of the sacred Stone of Emesa to Rome by Elagabalus in 218.