Numismatica Ars Classica
Auction 125 23-24 Jun 2021
View prices realized
► Sale information
Find similar lots
Septimius Severus, 193 – 211.
Aureus 194, AV 7.20 g. L SEPT SEV PERT – AVG IMP IIII Laureate head r. Rev. ARAB – ADIAB COS II P P Victory advancing l., holding wreath and trophy. C –. BMC p. 33 note *. RIC 41. Calicó 2433 (these dies).
Exceedingly rare and a very intriguing and historically important issue. Good very fine
This historical type naming the people of Arabia and Adiabene, though common enough in silver, is a rarity in gold. It was unknown to Cohen when he compiled his monumental work near the end of the 19th Century.
Severus encountered and defeated these peoples after his successful campaign of A.D. 194 against his rival in the East, Pescennius Niger, for which he was acclaimed imperator three times for successive victories. He next indulged in a triumphant tour of Syria, rewarding those who had been loyal and punishing others.
After wintering at Antioch, Severus led his army into Mesopotamia in the spring of 195 to ferret out any of Niger's soldiers who had fled east, and to exact revenge on foreigners who had supported Niger's cause. He first annexed the Kingdom of Osrhoene, installing there a Roman governor yet allowing its king, Agbar, to retain rule over the capital of Edessa and its hinterlands.He next overcame the Scenite Arabs and the Adiabeni (whose kings, Josephus tells us, had converted to Judaism in the 1st Century B.C.). Consequently, Severus assumed the titles Parthicus Arabicus and Parthicus Adiabenicus, which are preserved on coinage and are engraved on the Arch of Severus in Rome as PARTHICO ARABICO ET PARTHICO ADIABENICO. In using these full titles, Severus made it clear that these nations were Parthian vassals, yet he did not assume the title Parthicus, presumably to avoid causing offense and sparking an unwanted war.
It is curious that Severus assumed these titles before he earned any of the three imperatorships (V, VI and VII) that would follow later in 195. Birley proposes that this odd sequence of events might be explained if these nations submitted quickly, and only later offered resistance; battles must have occurred afterward that were hard-fought enough to merit another rapid sequence of imperatorships.
Severus' coinage celebrating the assumption of these titles was limited to aurei and denarii with two main reverse types, Victory advancing and two captives seated at the base of a trophy (though in one case the trophy is missing and the captives are seated upon shields). Denarii are known from Rome, Alexandria and Laodicea, and aurei only from Rome. Though the main issues were struck at Rome from 195 to 197, the denarii of Laodicea were struck as late as 198, perhaps because the message was of greater import to citizens in the East.
Aureus 194, AV 7.20 g. L SEPT SEV PERT – AVG IMP IIII Laureate head r. Rev. ARAB – ADIAB COS II P P Victory advancing l., holding wreath and trophy. C –. BMC p. 33 note *. RIC 41. Calicó 2433 (these dies).
Exceedingly rare and a very intriguing and historically important issue. Good very fine
This historical type naming the people of Arabia and Adiabene, though common enough in silver, is a rarity in gold. It was unknown to Cohen when he compiled his monumental work near the end of the 19th Century.
Severus encountered and defeated these peoples after his successful campaign of A.D. 194 against his rival in the East, Pescennius Niger, for which he was acclaimed imperator three times for successive victories. He next indulged in a triumphant tour of Syria, rewarding those who had been loyal and punishing others.
After wintering at Antioch, Severus led his army into Mesopotamia in the spring of 195 to ferret out any of Niger's soldiers who had fled east, and to exact revenge on foreigners who had supported Niger's cause. He first annexed the Kingdom of Osrhoene, installing there a Roman governor yet allowing its king, Agbar, to retain rule over the capital of Edessa and its hinterlands.He next overcame the Scenite Arabs and the Adiabeni (whose kings, Josephus tells us, had converted to Judaism in the 1st Century B.C.). Consequently, Severus assumed the titles Parthicus Arabicus and Parthicus Adiabenicus, which are preserved on coinage and are engraved on the Arch of Severus in Rome as PARTHICO ARABICO ET PARTHICO ADIABENICO. In using these full titles, Severus made it clear that these nations were Parthian vassals, yet he did not assume the title Parthicus, presumably to avoid causing offense and sparking an unwanted war.
It is curious that Severus assumed these titles before he earned any of the three imperatorships (V, VI and VII) that would follow later in 195. Birley proposes that this odd sequence of events might be explained if these nations submitted quickly, and only later offered resistance; battles must have occurred afterward that were hard-fought enough to merit another rapid sequence of imperatorships.
Severus' coinage celebrating the assumption of these titles was limited to aurei and denarii with two main reverse types, Victory advancing and two captives seated at the base of a trophy (though in one case the trophy is missing and the captives are seated upon shields). Denarii are known from Rome, Alexandria and Laodicea, and aurei only from Rome. Though the main issues were struck at Rome from 195 to 197, the denarii of Laodicea were struck as late as 198, perhaps because the message was of greater import to citizens in the East.