JULIA MAMAEA Severus Alexander Wife RARE Pella Macedonia Roman Coin i34367

Item: i34367

Authentic Ancient

Coin of:

Julia Mamaea – Roman Empress wife of Emperor Severus

Bronze 26mm (9.25 grams) of Pella in Macedonia
IVLIA MAMAEA AVG – Draped bust right.
COL AVG PELLA – Pella city-goddess (Tyche) seated left.

You are bidding on the exact item pictured,

Authenticity.

Pella (Greek:

Πέλλα), an ancient city located in

Pella Prefecture

of

Macedonia

in Greece

, was the

capital

of the

ancient

kingdom

of

Macedon

. A common

folk etymology

is traditionally given for the name Pella, ascribing

it to a form akin to the

Doric

Apella
,

originally meaning a ceremonial location where decisions were made.

However, the local form of Greek was not Doric, and the word exactly matches

standard Greek pélla “stone”, undoubtedly referring to a famous landmark

from the time of its foundation.

//

 History

The city was founded by

Archelaus

(413–399

BC) as the capital of his kingdom, replacing the older palace-city of

Aigai
(Vergina).

After this, it was the seat of the king

Philip II

and of

Alexander

, his son. In

168 BC
, it was

sacked by the

Romans
,

and its treasury transported to

Rome. Later, the

city was destroyed by an

earthquake

and eventually was rebuilt over its ruins. By 180 AD,

Lucian
could

describe it in passing as “now insignificant, with very few inhabitants”.

Pella is first mentioned by

Herodotus

of

Halicarnassus
(VII, 123) in relation to

Xerxes

‘ campaign and by

Thucydides

(II, 99,4 and 100,4) in relation to Macedonian expansion and the war against

Sitalces
,

the king of the Thracians

. According to

Xenophon
,

in the beginning of the 4th century BC, it was the largest Macedonian city. It

was probably built as the capital of the kingdom by Archelaus, although there

appears to be some possibility that it may have been

Amyntas

. It attracted Greek artists such the painter

Zeuxis

, the poet

Timotheus

of

Miletus
and the

tragic author

Euripides

who finishes his days there writing and producing Archelaus.

Archelaus invited the painter

Zeuxis
, the

greatest painter of the time, to decorate it. He was later the host of the

Athenian playwright

Euripides

in his retirement. Euripides

premiered here, about

408 BC
. Pella

was the birthplace of Philip II and of Alexander, his son. The hilltop

palace
of

Philip, where Aristotle

tutored young Alexander, is being excavated.

In antiquity, Pella was a port connected to the

Thermaic Gulf

by a navigable

inlet
, but the

harbor has silted, leaving the site landlocked. The reign of

Antigonus

likely represented the height of the city, as this is the period

which has left us the most archaeological remains.

Pella is further mentioned by

Polybius

and Livy
as the

capital of

Philip V

and of

Perseus

during the

Macedonian Wars

, fought against the

Roman Republic

. In the writings of Livy, we find the only description of how

the city looked in 167 BC

to

Lucius Aemilius Paulus Macedonicus

, the Roman who defeated Perseus at the

battle

of Pydna
:

…[Paulus] observed that it was not without good reason that it had been

chosen as the royal residence. It is situated on the south-west slope of a

hill and surrounded by a marsh too deep to be crossed on foot either in

summer or winter. The citadel the “Phacus,” which is close to the city,

stands in the marsh itself, projecting like an island, and is built on a

huge substructure which is strong enough to carry a wall and prevent any

damage from the infiltration from the water of the lagoon. At a distance it

appears to be continuous with the city wall, but it is really separated by a

channel which flows between the two walls and is connected with the city by

a bridge. Thus it cuts off all means of access from an external foe, and if

the king shut anyone up there, there could be no possibility of escape

except by the bridge, which could be very easily guarded..^[3]

The famous poet Aratus

died in Pella ca

240 BC
. Pella

was sacked by the Romans in

168 BC
, when

its treasury was transported to Rome.

In the

Roman province of Macedonia

, Pella was the capital of the third district,

and was possibly the seat of the Roman governor. Crossed by the

Via

Egnatia
^[4],

Pella remained a significant point on the route between

Dyrrachium

and

Thessalonika

. Cicero

stayed there in

58 BC
, but by

then the provincial seat had already transferred to Thessalonika. It was then

destroyed by earthquake in the first century BC; shops and workshops dating from

the catastrophe have been found with remains of their merchandise. The city was

eventually rebuilt over its ruins, which preserved them, but, ca

AD 180

,

Lucian

of Samosata

could describe it in passing as “now insignificant, with very few

inhabitants”

The city went into decline for reasons unknown (possibly an earthquake) by

the end of the 1st century BC. It was the object of a colonial deduction

sometime between 45 and

30 BC
; in any

case currency was marked Colonia Iulia Augusta Pella.

Augustus

settled peasants there whose land he had usurped to give to his veterans (Dio

Cassius LI, 4). But unlike other Macedonian colonies such as

Philippi
,

Dion

, and

Cassandreia

it never came under the jurisdiction of

Italicum
or Roman law. Four pairs of colonial magistrates (IIvirs

quinquennales) are known for this period.

The decline of the city was rapid, in spite of colonization:

Dio

Chrysostom
( 33.27Or.)

and Lucian
both

attest to the ruin of the ancient capital of Philip II and Alexander; though

their accounts may be exaggerated. In fact, the Roman city was somewhat to the

west of and distinct from the original capital; which explains some

contradictions between coinage,

epigraphs

, and testimonial accounts. In the Byzantine period, the Roman site

was occupied by a fortified village.

 The

site

 Urban

area

The city is built on the

island

of Phacos

, a

promontory

which dominates the wetlands which encircle Pella to the south, and a lake which

opened to the sea in the

Hellenistic period

.

 Palace

The city wall mentioned by Livy is only partly known. It consists of a

rampart of crude bricks (about 50 cm square) raised on a stone foundation; some

of which has been located North of the palace, and some in the South next to the

lake. Inside the ramparts, three hills occupy the North, and the palace is

situated on a place of honour on the central hill. Partly searched, it occupied

a considerable area of perhaps 60,000 square metres). The plan is still not well

known, but has been related to that of the city plan (see diagram).

The Pella palace consisted of several — possibly seven — large architectural

groupings juxtaposed in two rows, each including a series of rooms arranged

around a central square courtyard, generally with porticos. Archaeologists have

thus far identified a

palaestra

and baths

. The south facade of the palace, towards the city, consisted of one

large (at least 153 metres long) portico, constructed on a two metres high

foundation. The relationship between the four principal complexes is defined by

an interruption in the portico occuupied by a triple

propylaeum

, 15 m high, which gave the palace an imposing monumental air when

seen from the city below.

Dating of the palace has posed some problems: the large buildings could date

the reign of Philip II, but other buildings appear to be earlier. The baths date

from the reign of

Cassander
.

The size of the complex indicates that, unlike the palace at Vergina, this

was not only a royal residence or a grandiose monument but also a place of

government which was required to accommodate a portion of the administrative

apparatus of the kingdom.

 Hippodamean

plan

The city proper was located south of and below the palace. Designed on a

grid plan

as envisaged by

Hippodamus

, it consists of two series of parallel streets which intersect at

right angles and form a grid of eight rows of rectangular blocks. These blocks

are of a consistent width — each approximately 45 m — and a length which varies

from 111 m to 152 m, 125 metres being the most common. The streets are from 9 to

10 metres wide, except for the middle East–West arterial, which is up to 15

metres wide. This street is the primary access to the central public

agora
, which

occupied a space of ten blocks. Two North-South streets area also a bit wider

than the rest, and serve to connect the city to the port further South. The

streets had sewers and were equipped to convey water to individual residences.

This type of plan dates to the first half of the fourth century BC, and is

very close to the ideal in design, though it distinguishes itself by large block

size; Olynthus

in

Chalcidice

for example had blocks of 86.3×35 metres. On the other hand,

later Hellenistic urban foundations have blocks comparable to those of Pella:

112×58 m in Laodicea ad Mare

, or 120×46 m in

Aleppo
.

The agora holds pride of place in the centre of the city, occupying an

imposing 200 by 181 metres; 262×238 metres if one counts the potrticos which

surround it on all sides.

 Archaeology

Based on the descriptions provided by

Titus Livius

, the site was explored by 19th-century voyagers including

Holand, Pouqueville, Beaujour, Cousinéry, Delacoulonche, Hahn, Glotz and Struck.

The first excavation was begun by G. Oikonomos in 1914–15. The modern systematic

exploration of the site began in 1953 and full excavation was being done in

1957. The first series of campaigns were completed in 1963, more excavations

following in 1980. These digs continue in the section identified as the agora.

In February 2006, a farmer accidentally uncovered the largest tomb ever found

in Greece. The names of the noble

ancient Macedonian

family are still on inscriptions and painted sculptures

and walls have survived. The tomb dates to the

2nd

or 3rd century BC, following the rule of Alexander the Great.

Archaeological digs in progress since 1957 have uncovered a small part of the

city, which was made rich by Alexander and his heirs. The large agora or market

was surrounded by the shaded colonnades of

stoae, and streets

of enclosed houses with frescoed walls round inner courtyards. The first

wall murals imitating perspective views ever seen were on

walls at Pella. There are

temples

to Aphrodite
,

Demeter
and

Cybele
, and

Pella’s pebble-mosaic floors, dating after the lifetime of Alexander, are

famous: some reproduce Greek paintings; one shows a lion-griffin attacking a

stag, a familiar motif also of

Scythian

art, another depicts

Dionysus

riding a leopard.

Avita Mamaea (14 or 29 August after 180–235) was the second daughter of

Julia

Maesa
, a powerful

Roman woman of Syrian

Arab

origin and Syrian noble

Julius Avitus

. She was a niece of empress

Julia

Domna
and

emperor

Septimius Severus

and sister of

Julia Soaemias

. She was born and raised in

Emesa

(modern

Homs

, Syria
).

Julia’s first husband was a former consul (whose name is unknown) who died.

Julia married as her second husband Syrian

Promagistrate

Marcus Julius Gessius Marcianus

. Julia bore Marcianus two children, a

daughter called Theoclia (little is known of her) and a son, Marcus Julius

Gessius Bassianus Alexianus, later emperor

Alexander Severus

. Unlike her sister, Julia Mamaea was reported to be a

virtuous woman, never involved in scandals.

As a member of the Imperial Roman family, she watched closely the death of

her cousin Caracalla

and the ascent to power of her nephew

Elagabalus
,

the oldest grandson of Julia Maesa and her choice to the throne. Eventually

Elagabalus and his mother Julia Soaemias proved incompetent rulers and favour

fell on Alexander, Julia’s son. He became emperor in 222, following Elagabalus’

murder by the

Praetorian Guard

. Julia and her mother became regents in the name of

Alexander, then 14 years old. Upon adulthood, Alexander confirmed his esteem for

his mother and named her consors imperii (imperial consort). It was in

this condition that she accompanied her son in his campaigns: a custom started

with Julia Domna

. Thus she travelled to the East, for the campaign against

Parthia
and

to the Germania provinces. Julia Mamaea was with Alexander in Moguntiacum

(modern Mainz
),

capital of

Germania Superior

, when he was assassinated by his troops. She suffered the

same fate.