SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS 193AD Nicopolis ad Istrum SERPENT TRIPOD Roman Coin i54780

Item: i54780

Authentic Ancient 

Coin of:

Roman Emperor: 193-211 A.D. –
Bronze 16mm (2.47 grams) of
 

Nicopolis ad Istrum in Moesia Inferior
Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right.
Sacrificial tripod with serpent entwined around central leg.

You are bidding on the exact item pictured, 
provided with a Certificate of Authenticity and Lifetime Guarantee of 
Authenticity.

A sacrificial tripod was a type of
altar
used by the ancient Greeks. The most 
famous was the Delphic

tripod
, on which the
Pythian priestess
took her seat to deliver the
oracles
of the deity. The seat was formed by a 
circular slab on the top of the tripod, on which a branch of
laurel
was deposited when it was unoccupied by 
the priestess. In this sense, by Classical times the tripod was sacred to
Apollo
. The
mytheme
of
Heracles
contesting with Apollo for the tripod 
appears in vase-paintings older than the oldest written literature. The oracle 
originally may have been related to the primal deity, the Earth.

Another well-known tripod was the
Plataean Tripod
, made from a tenth part of the 
spoils taken from the
Persian
army after the
Battle of Plataea
. This consisted of a golden 
basin, supported by a
bronze

serpent
with three heads (or three serpents 
intertwined), with a list of the states that had taken part in the war inscribed 
on the coils of the serpent. The golden bowl was carried off by the
Phocians
during the
Third Sacred War
; the stand was removed by the 
emperor
Constantine
to
Constantinople
(modern
Istanbul
), where it still can be seen in the
hippodrome
, the Atmeydanı, although in 
damaged condition, the heads of the serpents disappeared however one is now on 
display at the nearby Istanbul Archaeology Museums. The inscription, however, 
has been restored almost entirely. Such tripods usually had three ears 
(rings which served as handles) and frequently had a central upright as support 
in addition to the three legs.

Tripods frequently are mentioned by
Homer
as prizes in
athletic games
and as complimentary gifts; in 
later times, highly decorated and bearing inscriptions, they served the same 
purpose. They also were used as dedicatory
offerings
to the deities, and in the dramatic 
contests at the Dionysia
the victorious
choregus
(a wealthy citizen who bore the 
expense of equipping and training the chorus) received a crown and a tripod. He 
would either dedicate the tripod to some deity or set it upon the top of a 
marble structure erected in the form of a small circular temple in a street in
Athens
, called the street of tripods, 
from the large number of memorials of this kind. One of these, the
Choragic Monument of Lysicrates
, erected by him 
to commemorate his victory in a dramatic contest in
335 BC
, still stands. The form of the victory 
tripod, now missing from the top of the Lysicrates monument, has been rendered 
variously by scholars since the eighteenth century.

The scholar
Martin L. West
writes that the sibyl at Delphi 
shows many traits of
shamanistic
practices, likely inherited or 
influenced from Central Asian practices. He cites her sitting in a cauldron on a 
tripod, while making her prophecies, her being in an ecstatic trance state, 
similar to shamans, and her utterings, unintelligible.

According to Herodotus (The Histories, I.144), the victory tripods were not 
to be taken from the temple sanctuary precinct, but left there for dedication.

Nicopolis ad Istrum was a

Roman
 

and Early

Byzantine

town founded by Emperor

Trajan
around 

101–106, at the junction of the Iatrus (Yantra) 

and the Rositsa
 

rivers, in memory of his victory over the

Dacians
. Its 

ruins are located at the village of

Nikyup

, 20 km north of

Veliko Tarnovo

in northern

Bulgaria
. 

The town reached its apogee during the reigns of Trajan,

Hadrian
, the

Antonines

and the

Severan dynasty

.

The classical town was planned according to the orthogonal system. The 

network of streets, the forum surrounded by an Ionic colonnade and many 

buildings, a two-nave room later turned into a basilica and other public 

buildings have been uncovered. The rich architectures and sculptures show a 

similarity with those of the ancient towns in Asia Minor. Nicopolis ad Istrum 

had issued coins, bearing images of its own public buildings.

In

447 AD

, the town was destroyed by

Attila’s

Huns
. 

Perhaps it was already abandoned before the early 400s. 

In the 6th century, it was rebuilt as a powerful fortress enclosing little more 

than military buildings and churches, following a very common trend for the 

cities of that century in the Danube area.The largest area of the extensive ruins (21.55 hectares) of the classical 

Nicopolis was not reoccupied since the fort covered only one fourth of it (5.75 

hectares), in the southeastern corner. 

The town became an episcopal centre during the early Byzantine period. It was 

finally destroyed by the Avar invasions at the end of the 6th century. A 

Bulgarian medieval settlement arose upon its ruins later (10th-14th century).

Nicopolis ad Istrum can be said to have been the birthplace of

Germanic

literary tradition. In the 4th century, the

Gothic
bishop, 

missionary and translator

Ulfilas
(Wulfila) 

obtained permission from Emperor

Constantius II

to immigrate with his flock of converts to Moesia and settle 

near Nicopolis ad Istrum in 347-8. 

There, he invented the

Gothic alphabet

and translated the

Bible
from

Greek

to

Gothic

.

Septimius Severus –

Roman Emperor: 193-211 A.D.

Augustus: 193-211 A.D. | 193-198 A.D. Sole reign; 195-198 
A.D.

Caracalla as Caesar | 198-209 A.D. with

Caracalla;

Geta as Caesar | 209-211 
A.D. with

Caracalla and
Geta

Husband of
Julia Domna
 
| Father of

Caracalla and
Geta
 
| Uncle of

Plautilla |

Lucius Septimius Severus (or rarely Severus I) (April 11, 

145/146-February 4, 211) was a

Roman
 

general, and

Roman 

Emperor
from April 14, 193 to 211. He was born in what is now the

Berber
part of 

Rome’s historic

Africa Province

.

Septimius Severus was born and raised at

Leptis 

Magna
(modern Berber

, southeast of

Carthage
, 

modern Tunisia
). 

Severus came from a wealthy, distinguished family of

equestrian

rank. Severus was of

Italian

Roman ancestry on his mother’s side and of

Punic

or

Libyan

-Punic 

ancestry on his father’s. Little is known of his father,

Publius Septimius Geta

, who held no major political status but had two 

cousins who served as consuls under emperor

Antoninus Pius

. His mother, Fulvia Pia’s family moved from

Italy
to

North 

Africa
and was of the

Fulvius
gens, 

an ancient and politically influential clan, which was originally of

plebeian

status. His siblings were a younger

Publius Septimius Geta

and Septimia Octavilla. Severus’s maternal cousin was

Praetorian Guard

and consul

Gaius Fulvius Plautianus

.

In 172, Severus was made a

Senator
 

by the then emperor

Marcus Aurelius

. In 187 he married secondly

Julia 

Domna
. In 190 Severus became

consul
, and in 

the following year received from the emperor

Commodus
 

(successor to Marcus Aurelius) the command of the

legions
 

in Pannonia
.

On the murder of

Pertinax
by 

the troops in 193, they proclaimed Severus Emperor at

Carnuntum
, 

whereupon he hurried to Italy. The former emperor,

Didius Julianus

, was condemned to death by the Senate and killed, and 

Severus took possession of Rome without opposition.

The legions of

Syria

, however, had proclaimed

Pescennius Niger

emperor. At the same time, Severus felt it was reasonable 

to offer

Clodius Albinus

, the powerful governor of Britannia who had probably 

supported Didius against him, the rank of Caesar, which implied some claim to 

succession. With his rearguard safe, he moved to the East and crushed Niger’s 

forces at the

Battle of Issus

. The following year was devoted to suppressing Mesopotamia 

and other Parthian vassals who had backed Niger. When afterwards Severus 

declared openly his son

Caracalla
 

as successor, Albinus was hailed emperor by his troops and moved to Gallia. 

Severus, after a short stay in Rome, moved northwards to meet him. On

February 

19
, 197
, 

in the

Battle of Lugdunum

, with an army of 100,000 men, mostly composed of

Illyrian
,

Moesian
and

Dacian
legions, 

Severus defeated and killed Clodius Albinus, securing his full control over the 

Empire.

Emperor

Severus was at heart a

soldier
, and 

sought glory through military exploits. In 197 he waged a brief and successful 

war against the

Parthian Empire

in retaliation for the support given to Pescennius Niger. 

The Parthian capital

Ctesiphon
 

was sacked by the legions, and the northern half of

Mesopotamia

was restored to Rome.

His relations with the

Roman 

Senate
were never good. He was unpopular with them from the outset, having 

seized power with the help of the military, and he returned the sentiment. 

Severus ordered the execution of dozens of Senators on charges of corruption and

conspiracy

against him, replacing them with his own favorites.

He also disbanded the

Praetorian Guard

and replaced it with one of his own, made up of 50,000 

loyal soldiers mainly camped at

Albanum

, near Rome (also probably to grant the emperor a kind of centralized 

reserve). During his reign the number of legions was also increased from 25/30 

to 33. He also increased the number of auxiliary corps (numerii), many of 

these troops coming from the Eastern borders. Additionally the annual wage for a 

soldier was raised from 300 to 500

denarii
.

Although his actions turned Rome into a military

dictatorship

, he was popular with the citizens of Rome, having stamped out 

the rampant corruption of Commodus’s reign. When he returned from his victory 

over the Parthians, he erected the

Arch of Septimius Severus

in Rome.

According to Cassius Dio, 

however, after 197 Severus fell heavily under the influence of his Praetorian 

Prefect,

Gaius Fulvius Plautianus

, who came to have almost total control of most 

branches of the imperial administration. Plautianus’s daughter,

Fulvia Plautilla

, was married to Severus’s son, Caracalla. Plautianus’s 

excessive power came to an end in 205, when he was denounced by the Emperor’s 

dying brother and killed. 

The two following praefecti, including the jurist

Aemilius Papinianus

, received however even larger powers.

Campaigns in Caledonia (Scotland)

Starting from 208 Severus undertook a number of military actions in

Roman 

Britain
, reconstructing

Hadrian’s Wall

and campaigning in

Scotland
.

He reached the area of the

Moray 

Firth
in his last campaign in Caledonia, as was called Scotland by 
the Romans.. 

In 210 obtained a peace with the

Picts
that lasted 

practically until the final withdrawal of the Roman legions from Britain, 

before falling severely ill in

Eboracum
(York).

Death

He is famously said to have given the advice to his sons: “Be harmonious, 

enrich the soldiers, and scorn all other men” before he died at Eboracum on

February 4
,

211. Upon his death in 211, Severus was

deified

by the Senate and succeeded by his sons,

Caracalla
 

and

Geta

, who were advised by his wife

Julia 

Domna
. The stability Severus provided the Empire was soon gone under their reign.

Accomplishments and Record

Though his military expenditure was costly to the empire, Severus was the 

strong, able ruler that Rome needed at the time. He began a tradition of 

effective emperors elevated solely by the military. His policy of an expanded 

and better-rewarded army was criticized by his contemporary

Dio Cassius

and

Herodianus

: in particular, they pointed out the increasing burden (in the 

form of taxes and services) the civilian population had to bear to maintain the 

new army.

Severus was also distinguished for his buildings. Apart from the triumphal 

arch in the Roman Forum carrying his full name, he also built the

Septizodium

in Rome and enriched greatly his native city of

Leptis 

Magna
(including another triumphal arch on the occasion of his visit of 

203).

Severus and Christianity

Christians were

persecuted

during the reign of Septimus Severus. Severus allowed the 

enforcement of policies already long-established, which meant that Roman 

authorities did not intentionally seek out Christians, but when people were 

accused of being Christians they could either curse

Jesus
and make an 

offering to

Roman gods

, or be executed. Furthermore, wishing to strengthen the peace by 

encouraging religious harmony through

syncretism
, 

Severus tried to limit the spread of the two quarrelsome groups who refused to 

yield to syncretism by outlawing

conversion

to Christianity or

Judaism
. 

Individual officials availed themselves of the laws to proceed with rigor 

against the Christians. Naturally the emperor, with his strict conception of 

law, did not hinder such partial persecution, which took place in

Egypt
and the

Thebaid
, as 

well as in

Africa proconsularis

and the East. Christian

martyrs
were 

numerous in Alexandria

(cf.

Clement of Alexandria

, Stromata, ii. 20;

Eusebius

, Church History, V., xxvi., VI., i.). No less severe were 

the persecutions in Africa, which seem to have begun in 197 or 198 (cf.

Tertullian’s

Ad martyres), and included the Christians known in the

as the martyrs of

Madaura
. 

Probably in 202 or 203

Felicitas

and

Perpetua

suffered for their faith. Persecution again raged for a short time 

under the proconsul

Scapula
in 

211, especially in

Numidia
and

Mauritania
. 

Later accounts of a Gallic

persecution, especially at

Lyon, are 

legendary. In general it may thus be said that the position of the Christians 

under Septimius Severus was the same as under the

Antonines
; 

but the law of this Emperor at least shows clearly that the

rescript
of

Trajan
had failed to execute its purpose.