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Julia Maesa – Augusta: 218-224 A.D.
Silver Denarius 19mm (2.67 grams) Struck at the mint of Rome 218-222 A.D.
Reference: RIC 268 (Elagabalus), BMC 76 (Elagabalus), S 7756, C 36
IVLIA MAESA AVG – Draped bust right.
PVDICITIA – Pudicitia seated left, pulling veil and holding scepter.
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 Pudicitia (“modesty” or “sexual virtue”) was a central concept in ancient Roman sexual ethics. The word is derived from the more general pudor, the sense of shame that regulated an individual’s behavior as socially acceptable. Pudicitia was most often a defining characteristic of women, but men who failed to conform to masculine sexual norms were said to exhibit feminizing impudicitia, sexual shamelessness. The virtue was personified by the Roman goddess Pudicitia, whose Greek equivalent was Aidôs.
As virtue
Romans, both men and women, were expected to uphold the virtue of pudicitia, a complex ideal that was explored by many ancient writers, including Livy, Valerius Maximus, Cicero and Tacitus. Livy describes the legendary figure of Lucretia as the epitome of pudicitia. She is loyal to her husband and is modest, despite her incredible beauty. The story of Lucretia shows that the more virtuous a woman was, the more appealing she was to potential adulterers.
Pudicitia was not only a mental attribute but also physical; a person’s appearance was seen as an indicator of their morality. The way a man or woman presented him or herself in public, and the persons they interacted with caused others to pass judgment on their pudicitia. For example, if a woman was seen associating with men other than her husband people would make a negative judgment on her pudicitia. Romans idealized the woman who was univira, a “one-man” woman, married once, even though by the time of Cicero and Julius Caesar, divorce was common, the subject of gossip rather than social stigma. Modest self-presentation indicated pudicitia. The opposite of pudicitia was impudicitia, “shamelessness” or “sexual vice.” An assault on pudicitia was stuprum, sexual misconduct or “sex crime.”
Romans associated the loss of pudicitia with chaos and loss of control. In Cicero’s oration against Verres, he discusses many of the governor’s transgressions including sexual misconduct with both men and women. In the Imperial age, Augustus enacted a program of moral legislation to encourage pudicitia.
The goddess
According to Livy, there were two temples of Pudicitia in Rome. The original one was for women of the patrician class only, but when Verginia was excluded on account of marrying a plebeian consul, she and a group of plebeian matrons founded an altar of Pudicitia for women of the plebeian class as well. Livy states that the plebeian shrine of Pudicitia eventually fell into disuse after its sacred character had been abused.
Julia Maesa – Augusta 218-224/225 A.D.
| Sister of Julia Domna | Sister-in-law of Septimius Severus | Mother of Julia Soaemias and Julia Mamaea | Grandmother of Elagabalus and Severus Alexander | Aunt of Caracalla and Geta |
 Julia Maesa (7 May ca. 165 AD-ca. 3 August 224) was a Roman citizen and daughter of Julius Bassianus, priest of the sun god Heliogabalus, the patron god of Emesa (modern Homs) in the Roman province of Syria. Grandmother of both the Roman emperors Elagabalus and Alexander Severus, she figured prominently in the ascension of each to the title at the age of fourteen.
Like her younger sister Julia Domna, she was among the most important women to exercise power behind the throne in the Roman empire.
Julia Maesa was married to Syrian noble Julius Avitus and had two daughters Julia Soaemias and Julia Avita Mamaea each one mother of an emperor. Following the accession to the throne of her brother in law Septimius Severus, Julia Maesa moved to Rome to live with her sister. After the murder of her nephew, the emperor Caracalla, and the suicide of Julia Domna, she was compelled to return to Syria. But the new emperor Macrinus did not proscribe her and allowed her to keep her money.
Once back in Syria and possessed of ample funds, Maesa engaged in a plot to overthrow Macrinus and place one of her grandsons, Elagabalus son of Julia Soaemias, in his place. In order to legitimise this pretension, mother and daughter fomented the rumor that the 14 year old boy was Caracalla’s illegitimate son. The two Julias were successful, mainly due to the fact that Macrinus was of an obscure origin without the proper political connections, and Elagabalus became emperor.
For her loyalty and support, Elagabalus honored Julia Maesa with the title Augusta avia Augusti (Augusta, grandmother of Augustus). When the teenager proved to be a disaster as emperor scorning Roman values with both religious and sexual scandals (even taking the liberty of marrying a Vestal virgin among a rumored five wives during his brief four years reign), Julia Maesa decided to promote instead her fourteen year-old grandson Alexander Severus.
She convinced Elagabalus to adopt Alexander as his heir and he was murdered shortly afterwards by the praetorian guard alongside his mother, both being thrown into the Tiber river in contempt after being dragged from the palace and through the streets, when a rumor circulated that Alexander had died.
Julia Maesa died in an uncertain date around 226 and like her sister Domna before her, was deified.
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