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June 2017 Auction 9 Jun 2017
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EMPIRE, GOLD AUREUS OF SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS, posthumous issue, Rome, ca. AD 211, 6.940g, 12h. Calicó 2440. Very rare. Lightly toned with underlying luster. Perfectly centered and struck on a broad flan. With a superb portrait of idealized nobility. Some minor marks, otherwise, virtually as struck. Roma Numismatics 2012 (4) lot 582
"It is the Roman usage to elevate to divine status those emperors who at their death leave sons or designated successors; they call this consecratio. To begin with, public mourning, a combination of festive and religious ceremony, is observed throughout the entire city... From the topmost and smallest story, as if from a battlement, an eagle flies forth, soaring with the flames into the sky; Roman people believes that this eagle carries the soul of the emperor from the earth up to heaven. The emperor is then worshiped with the rest of the gods" (Herodian, Severus' funeral).
"It is the Roman usage to elevate to divine status those emperors who at their death leave sons or designated successors; they call this consecratio. To begin with, public mourning, a combination of festive and religious ceremony, is observed throughout the entire city... From the topmost and smallest story, as if from a battlement, an eagle flies forth, soaring with the flames into the sky; Roman people believes that this eagle carries the soul of the emperor from the earth up to heaven. The emperor is then worshiped with the rest of the gods" (Herodian, Severus' funeral).