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Severina – Roman Empress 274-275 A.D. – wife of Emperor Aurelian
Bronze Antoninianus 23mm (2.72 grams) Rome mint, struck 275 A.D.
Reference: RIC 3
SEVERINA AVG, diademed, draped bust right, on crescent.
CONCORDIA AVGG / ΓXXIR, Severina standing right, clasping hand of Emperor, standing left.
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 Severina – Augusta 274-275 A.D.
Wife of Roman Emperor Aurelian
Ulpia Severina (fl. 3rd century) was a Roman Empress, the wife of the emperor Aurelian. There is evidence that she reigned in her own right for some period after Aurelian’s death in 275, which would make her the only woman to have ruled over the entire classical Roman Empire by her own power. Very little is known about her, as there are no literary sources mentioning her existence. Almost everything known about her, including her name, is gathered from coins and inscriptions.
Life
Nothing certain is known of Ulpia Severina before her marriage to Aurelian. It has been suggested that she was the daughter of Ulpius Crinitus, a figure appearing in the Historia Augusta. This Ulpius is said to have been a descendant of the line of Trajan and to have supported and adopted Aurelian. However, the Historia Augusta is notoriously unreliable, and the story, and perhaps Ulpius himself, may have been invented by propagandists trying to connect Aurelian with the “Good Emperor” Trajan. Some scholars believe that Ulpia Severina was from Dacia, where the nomen Ulpius was common due to the influence of Trajan (Marcus Ulpius Traianus).
At any rate, Ulpia Severina married Aurelian probably before he became emperor in 270. It is known they had a daughter. According to coinage depicting her, Ulpia gained the title Augusta in the autumn of 274, though it is possible she had the title even before that. She also received the titles of Pia (“pious”) and mater castrorum et senatus et patriae (“mother of the barracks (armies), senate, and country”).
There is considerable numismatic evidence for Ulpia Severina ruling in her own right between the death of Aurelian and the election of Marcus Claudius Tacitus. Sources mention an interregnum between Aurelian and Tacitus, and some of Ulpia’s coins appear to have been minted after Aurelian’s death. As such she may have been the only woman to rule over the whole Roman Empire in her own power.
 Aurelian – Roman Emperor: 270-275 A.D.
Husband of Severina
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Aurelian (Latin: Lucius Domitius Aurelianus Augustus; 9 September 214 or 215 – September or October 275) was Roman Emperor from 270 to 275. Born in humble circumstances, he rose through the military ranks to become emperor. During his reign, he defeated the Alamanni after a devastating war. He also defeated the Goths, Vandals, Juthungi, Sarmatians, and Carpi. Aurelian restored the Empire’s eastern provinces after his conquest of the Palmyrene Empire in 273. The following year he conquered the Gallic Empire in the west, reuniting the Empire in its entirety. He was also responsible for the construction of the Aurelian Walls in Rome, and the abandonment of the province of Dacia.
His successes were instrumental in ending the Roman Empire’s Crisis of the Third Century, earning him the title Restitutor Orbis or ‘Restorer of the World’. Although Domitian was the first emperor who had demanded to be officially hailed as dominus et deus (master and god), these titles never occurred in written form on official documents until the reign of Aurelian.
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