Elagabalus Silver Possibly Unpublished Ancient Roman Coin Liberty Cult i51141

Item: i51141

Authentic Ancient

Coin of:

Elagabalus
–
Roman Emperor
: 218-222 A.D. –

Silver Denarius 18mm (2.93 grams) Struck circa 218-222 A.D.
Reference: Possibly Unpublished
Laureate, draped bust right.
LIBERTAS AVG – Libertas standing left, holding pileus and scepter; star in left
field.

You are bidding on the exact item pictured,

Authenticity.

LIBERTAS – Liberty is represented in two ways on coins: the one as a
woman with a naked head, which is the image of Roman Liberty; the other having
her head covered with a veil, and adorned with a diadem, is the effigy of the
goddess of liberty, whose temple was on Mount Aventine. The veil is in this case
the token of divinity, as indeed the diadem is the ornament of a goddess.
Liberty is represented not only on consular medals, but also with considerable
frequency on those of the imperial series.

Goddesses named for and representing the concept Liberty have existed
in many cultures, including classical examples dating from the
Roman Empire
and some national symbols such as
the British
“Britannia”
or the Irish
“Kathleen
Ni Houlihan“. The
ancient Roman

goddess

Libertas
was honored during the
second Punic War
by a temple erected on the
Aventine Hill
in

Rome by the father of
Tiberius Gracchus
. A statue in her honor was
also raised by Clodius
on the site of
Marcus Tullius Cicero
‘s house after it had been
razed. The figure also resembles Sol Invictus, the Roman god of sun.

Elagabalus

(pronounced El-uh-GAB-uh–lus, c. 203 – March 11, 222), also known as

Heliogabalus or Marcus

Aurelius Antoninus, was a

Roman

Emperor
of the

Severan dynasty

who reigned from 218 to 222. Born Varius Avitus Bassianus,

he was

Syrian

on his mother’s side, the son of

Julia Soaemias

and

Sextus Varius Marcellus

, and in his early youth he served as a priest of the

god

El-Gabal

at his hometown,

Emesa

. Upon becoming emperor he took the name Marcus Aurelius Antoninus

Augustus, and was called Elagabalus only a long time after his death.

In 217,

the emperor Caracalla

was murdered and replaced by his

Praetorian prefect

, Marcus Opellius

Macrinus
.

Caracalla’s maternal aunt,

Julia

Maesa
, successfully instigated a revolt among the

Third Legion

to have her eldest grandson, Elagabalus, declared as emperor in

his place. Macrinus was defeated on June 8, 218, at the

Battle of Antioch

, upon which Elagabalus, barely fourteen years old,

ascended to the imperial power and began a reign that was marred by infamous

controversies, to put it mildly.

Jupiter, head of the

Roman pantheon

, with a new god,

Sol Invictus
, and forced leading members of Rome’s government to

participate in religious rites celebrating this deity, which he personally led.

Amidst growing opposition, Elagabalus, only 18 years old, was assassinated

and replaced by his cousin

Alexander Severus

on March 11, 222, in a plot formed by his grandmother,

Julia Maesa, and members of the

Praetorian Guard

. Elagabalus developed a reputation among his contemporaries

for eccentricity, decadence, and zealotry which was likely exaggerated by his

successors and political rivals.

This propaganda was passed on and, as a result, he was one of the most reviled

Roman emperors to early historians. For example,

Edward Gibbon

wrote that Elagabalus “abandoned himself to the grossest

pleasures and ungoverned fury.”

“The name Elagabalus is branded in history above all others” because of his

“unspeakably disgusting life,” wrote

B.G. Niebuhr

..