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Otacilia Severa – Roman Empress: 244-249 A.D wife of Emperor Philip I –
Silver Antoninianus 23mm (4.74 grams) Rome mint: 248-249 A.D.
Reference: RIC 130 (Philip I), C 43
OTACILSEVERAAVG – Diademed, draped bust right on crescent.
PIETASAVGVSTAE – Pietas standing left, raising hand and holding box of incense.
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Pietas, translated variously as “duty”, “religiosity” or “religious behavior”,”loyalty”,”devotion”, or “filial piety” (English “piety” derives from the Latin), was one of the chief virtues among the ancient Romans . It was the distinguishing virtue of the founding hero Aeneas , who is often given the adjectival epithet pius throughout Vergil ‘s epic Aeneid . The sacred nature of pietas was embodied by the divine personification Pietas, a goddess often pictured on Roman coins. The Greek equivalent is eusebeia .
Cicero defined pietas as the virtue “which admonishes us to do our duty to our country or our parents or other blood relations.” The man who possessed pietas “performed all his duties towards the deity and his fellow human beings fully and in every respect,” as the 19th-century classical scholar Georg Wissowa described it.
Livia wife of Augustus as Pietas
As virtue
Pietas erga parentes (“pietas toward one’s parents”) was one of the most important aspects of demonstrating virtue. Pius as a cognomen originated as way to mark a person as especially “pious” in this sense: announcing one’s personal pietas through official nomenclature seems to have been an innovation of the late Republic , when Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius claimed it for his efforts to have his father, Numidicus , recalled from exile. Pietas extended also toward “parents” in the sense of “ancestors,” and was one of the basic principles of Roman tradition , as expressed by the care of the dead. Pietas as a virtue resided within a person, in contrast to a virtue or gift such as Victoria , which was given by the gods. Pietas, however, allowed a person to recognize the divine source of benefits conferred.
The first recorded use of pietas in English occurs in Anselm Bayly’s The Alliance of Music, Poetry, and Oratory, published in 1789.
Iconography
Denarius of Herennius, depicting Pietas and an act of pietas.
Pietas was represented on coin by cult objects, but also as a woman conducting a sacrifice by means of fire at an altar. In the imagery of sacrifice, libation was the fundamental act that came to symbolize pietas.
Pietas is first represented on Roman coins on denarii issued by Marcus Herennius in 108 or 107 BC. Pietas appears on the obverse as a divine personification, in bust form; the quality of pietas is represented by a son carrying his father on his back.Pietas is among the virtues that appear frequently on Imperial coins, including those issued under Hadrian .
One of the symbols of pietas was the stork, described by Petronius as pietaticultrix, “cultivator of pietas.” The stork represented filial piety in particular, as the Romans believed that it demonstrated family loyalty by returning to the same nest every year, and that it took care of its parents in old age. As such, a stork appears next to Pietas on a coin issued by Metellus Pius (on whose cognomen see above ).
As goddess
Flavia Maximiana Theodora on the obverse, on the reverse Pietas holding infant to her breast.
Pietas was the divine presence in everyday life that cautioned humans not to intrude on the realm of the gods. Violations of pietas required a piaculum , expiatory rites.
A temple to Pietas was vowed (votum) by Manius Acilius Glabrio at the Battle of Thermopylae in 191 BC .
According to a miraculous legend (miraculum), a poor woman who was starving in prison was saved when her daughter gave her breast milk (compare Roman Charity ). Caught in the act, the daughter was not punished, but recognized for her pietasas. Mother and daughter were set free, and given public support for the rest of their lives. The site was regarded as sacred to the goddess Pietas (consecratus deae)pietas erga parentes
Imperial women portrayed as Pietass
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Marcia Otacilia Severa or Otacilia Severa was the Empress of Rome and wife of Emperor Marcus Julius Philippus or Philip the Arab who reigned over the Roman Empire from 244 to 249.
Severa was a member of the ancient gens Otacilius who were people of consular and senatorial rank. Severa’s father was Otacilius Severus or Severianus, who served as Roman Governor of Macedonia and Moesia , while her mother was a member of gens Marcius or was related to the gens. According to sources she had a brother called Severianus, who served as Roman Governor of Lower Moesia between 246-247.
Little is known on her life before marrying Philip. In 234, Severa married Philip who served in the Praetorian Guard under Emperor Alexander Severus . Severa had two children with Philip: a son named Marcus Julius Philippus Severus or Philippus II (born in 238) and – according to numismatic evidence – a daughter called Julia Severa or Severina, who is never mentioned by the ancient Roman sources.
In February 244, Gordian III was killed in Mesopotamia. There is a possibility that Severa was involved in a conspiracy to murder Gordian. Philip became the new emperor who gave his young predecessor a proper funeral and his ashes were returned to Rome for burial.
Philip gave Severa the honorific title of Augusta. Their son was made heir of the purple. Sometimes Severa and Philip are considered as the first Christian imperial couple, because during their reign the persecutions of Christians had ceased and the couple had become tolerant towards the faith of the Christians. Through her intervention, she saved Bishop and Saint Babylas of Antioch from persecution.
In August 249, Philip had died in battle in Verona and Decius (emperor) became the new emperor. Severa was in Rome that time. When the news of Philip’s death had reached Rome, Severa’s son was murdered by the Praetorian Guard . The child died in her arms. Severa survived her husband and son and lived later in obscurity. Her later life is unknown.
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