Julia Domna – Roman Empress Wife of Emperor Septimius Severus 193-211 A.D. – Silver Denarius 19mm (4.06 grams) Rome mint, struck circa 205 A.D. Reference: RIC 565; RSC 126a; Sear 6593 var. Certification: NGC Ancients XF 5771962-005 IVLIA AVGVSTA, draped bust right. MATER DEVM, Cybele seated left between two lions, resting elbow on drum and holding branch.
You are bidding on the exact item pictured, provided with a Certificate of Authenticity and Lifetime Guarantee of Authenticity.
Rhea (known by Romans as Cybele), an ancient Greek goddess, appears to have been a goddess of the earth. She is represented as a daughter of Uranus and Ge, and the wife of Cronos, by whom she became the mother of Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon and Zeus. Cronos devoured all his children by Rhea, hut when she was on the point of giving birth to Zeus, she went to Lyctus in Crete, by the advice of her parents. When Zeus was born she gave to Cronos a stone wrapped up like an infant, which the god swallowed supposing it to be his child. Crete was undoubtedly the earliest seat of the worship of Rhea; though many other parts of Greece laid claim to the honor of being the birth-place of Zeus. Rhea was afterwards identified by the Greeks in Asia Minor with the Great Asiatic goddess, known under the name of ” the Great Mother,”‘ or the ” Mother of the Gods,” and also bearing other names such as Cybele, Agdistis, Dindymene. Hence her worship became of a wild and enthusiastic character, and various Eastern rites were added to it, which soon spread throughout the whole of Greece. From the orgiastic nature of these rites, her worship became closely connected with that of Dionysus (Dionysos). Under the name of Cybele her worship was universal in Phrygia. Under the name of Agdistia, she was worshipped with great solemnity at Pessinus in Galatia, which town was regarded as the principal seat of her worship. Under different names we might trace the worship of Rhea even much further east, as far as the Euphrates and even Bactriana. She was, in fact, the great goddess of the Eastern world, and we find her worshipped there under a variety of forms and names. As regards the Romans, they had from the earliest times worshipped Jupiter and his mother Ops, the wife of Saturn. During the war with Hannibal (2nd Punic War) the Romans fetched the image of the Mother of the Gods from Pessinus ; but the worship then introduced was quite new to them, and either maintained itself as distinct from the worship of Ops, or became united with it. A temple was built to her on the Palatine, and the Roman matrons honored her with the festival of the Megalesia. In all European countries Rhea was conceived to be accompanied by the Curetes, who are inseparably connected with the birth and bringing up of Zeus in Crete, and in Phrygia by the Corybantes, Atys, and Agdistis. The Corybantes were her enthusiastic priests, who with drums, cymbals, horns, and in full armor, performed their orgiastic dances in the forests and on the mountains of Phrygia. In Rome the Galli were her priests. The lion was sacred to her. In works of art she is usually represented seated on a throne, adorned with the mural crown, from which a veil hangs down. Lions appear crouching on the right and left of her throne, and sometimes she is seen riding in a chariot drawn by lions.
Julia Domna – Augusta 193-217 A.D.
| Wife of Septimius Severus | Mother of Caracalla and Geta | Sister of Julia Maesa | Aunt of Julia Soaemias and Julia Mamaea | Great-aunt of Elagabalus and Severus Alexander | Mother-in-law of Plautilla |
Julia Domna, (Latin: Iulia Domna; c. 170 AD – 217 AD) was a member of the Severan dynasty of the Roman Empire. Empress and wife of Roman Emperor Lucius Septimius Severus and mother of Emperors Geta and Caracalla, Julia was famous for her prodigious learning as well as her extraordinary political influence.
Family background
Julia Domna was born in Emesa (known today as Homs) in Syria. She was the youngest daughter of the high-priest of Ba’al Gaius Julius Bassianus and sister to Julia Maesa, and she had two nieces: Julia Mamaea, mother of Severus Alexander, and Julia Soaemias, mother of Elagabalus. Her ancestors were Priest Kings of the famous temple of Elagabalus. The family had enormous wealth and was promoted to Roman senatorial aristocracy. Before her marriage, Julia inherited the estate of her paternal great-uncle Julius Agrippa, a former leading Centurion.
Reign
In the late 180s, Julia married future emperor Septimius Severus, usually considered to be of Punic background. They had two sons, Lucius Septimius Bassianus (Caracalla) in 188 and Publius Septimius Geta in 189. Because of her love of philosophy, Julia protected philosophers and helped philosophy to flourish in Rome. She was an imperial woman from 193-217 CE as wife to the emperor Septimius Severus and mother to emperors Geta (murdered by Caracalla in 211 CE) and Caracalla (r. 211-217 CE). Julia Domna died shortly after her son Caracalla was murdered.
Civil War or “Year of the Five Emperors”
After Commodus was murdered without an heir in 192 CE, many contenders rushed for the throne. An elder senator, Pertinax, was appointed by the praetorian guard. When Pertinax would not meet the guard’s demands of payment, his son-in-law Iulianus was called to Rome. After bribing the guard, Iulianus was appointed emperor, and Pertinax was murdered. Septimius Severus, coming from the north into Rome, overthrew Iulianus and had him executed. Septimius claimed the title of emperor in 193, and co-ruled Rome with Clodius Albinus until 195 CE when Septimius declared his sons AVGVSTVS, and defeated Albinus and his British legions. Septimius remained at war with an eastern rival to the throne, Niger, until he defeated Niger’s forces in 201 CE. Julia Domna and her sons accompanied Septimius in his campaigns in the East. During this time, titles were granted to Julia Domna reminiscent of titles given to Faustina the Younger, including MATER CASTORVM, or mother of the camp, MATER AVGVSTVS, mother of Augustus, and MATER PATRIAE, or mother of the fatherland.
Imperial Building Project: The aedes Vestae
The fire of Commodus in 192 CE destroyed areas of the aedes Vestae which includes the Temple of Vesta and the home, or Atrium, of the Vestal Virgins. Based on numismatic evidence, historical authors, and a laconic inscription found in situ, most scholars agree that Julia Domna funded restorations to the site during Septimius Severus’s reign.
Controversy and transition of power
As empress, Julia was often involved in intrigues and had plenty of political enemies, who accused her of treason and adultery. None of these accusations was proven. Severus continued to favour his wife and insisted on her company in the campaign against the Britons that started in 208. When Severus died in 211 in Eboracum (York), Julia became the mediator between their two sons, Caracalla and Geta, who were to rule as joint emperors, according to their father’s wishes expressed in his will. The two young men were never fond of each other and quarrelled frequently. Geta was murdered by Caracalla’s soldiers in the same year.
Caracalla was now sole emperor, but his relations with his mother were difficult, as attested by several sources, probably because of his involvement in Geta’s murder. Nevertheless, Julia accompanied Caracalla in his campaign against the Parthian empire in 217.
During this trip, Caracalla was assassinated and succeeded (briefly) by Macrinus. Julia chose to commit suicide after hearing about the rebellion, perhaps a decision hastened by the fact that she was suffering from breast cancer. Her body was brought to Rome and placed in the Sepulcrum C. et L. Caesaris (perhaps a separate chamber in the Mausoleum of Augustus). Later, however, both her bones and those of Geta were transferred by her sister Julia Maesa to the Mausoleum of Hadrian. She was later deified.
Apollonius
If it were not for Julia, there would have survived little information about the philosopher Apollonius of Tyana. It was at the behest of Julia that Philostratus wrote his now famous Life of Apollonius of Tyana. Julia is thought to have died before Philostratus could finish his work of eight volumes.
|