SEVERUS ALEXANDER 222AD Nisibis Mespotamia Tyche Ram Aries Roman Coin i56372

Item: i56372

 Authentic Ancient 

Coin of:

Roman Emperor: 222-235 A.D.
Bronze 26mm (8.00 grams) of

Nisibis in

Mesopotamia
Reference: SNG Cop 234, BMC 120.5
Laureate bust right, slight drapery.
Turreted, veiled, and draped bust of Tyche right; above, ram (Aries) leaping 
right, head left; stars behind and before.
 

You are bidding on the exact item pictured, 

Authenticity.

Tyche (Greek for luck; the Roman equivalent was
Fortuna
) was the presiding
tutelary deity
that governed the fortune and 
prosperity of a city, its destiny. Increasingly during the Hellenistic period, 
cities had their own specific iconic version of Tyche, wearing a
mural crown
(a crown like the walls of the 
city).

The 
Greek historian Polybius
believed that when no cause can be 
discovered to events such as floods, droughts, frosts or even in politics, then 
the cause of these events may be fairly attributed to Tyche.

Stylianos Spyridakis  concisely expressed Tyche’s appeal in a 
Hellenistic world of arbitrary violence and unmeaning reverses: “In the 
turbulent years of the
Epigoni of Alexander
, an awareness of the 
instability of human affairs led people to believe that Tyche, the blind 
mistress of Fortune, governed mankind with an inconstancy which explained the 
vicissitudes of the time.”

In literature, she might be given various genealogies, as a daughter of
Hermes
and
Aphrodite
, or considered as one of the
Oceanids
, daughters of
Oceanus
and
Tethys
, or of

Zeus. She was connected with
Nemesis
and
Agathos Daimon
(“good spirit”).

She was uniquely venerated at
Itanos
in Crete, as Tyche Protogeneia, 
linked with the Athenian
Protogeneia
(“firstborn”), daughter of
Erechtheus
, whose self-sacrifice saved the 
city.

She had temples at
Caesarea Maritima
,
Antioch
,
Alexandria
and
Constantinople
. In
Alexandria
the Tychaeon, the temple of 
Tyche, was described by
Libanius
as one of the most magnificent of the 
entire Hellenistic world.

Tyche appears on many
coins
of the Hellenistic period in the three 
centuries before the Christian era, especially from cities in the Aegean. 
Unpredictable turns of fortune drive the complicated plotlines of
Hellenistic romances
, such as
Leucippe and Clitophon
or
Daphnis and Chloe
. She experienced a 
resurgence in another era of uneasy change, the final days of publicly 
sanctioned
Paganism
, between the late-fourth-century 
emperors
Julian
and
Theodosius I
who definitively closed the 
temples. The effectiveness of her capricious power even achieved respectability 
in philosophical circles during that generation, though among poets it was a 
commonplace to revile her for a fickle harlot.

In medieval art
, she was depicted as carrying a
cornucopia
, an
emblematic
ship’s rudder, and the
wheel of fortune
, or she may stand on the 
wheel, presiding over the entire circle of fate.

The constellation of
Virgo
is sometimes identified as the heavenly 
figure of Tyche, as well as other goddesses such as
Demeter
and
Astraea
.

Aurelius Severus Alexander (October 1, 208–March 18, 235 AD), commonly 

called Alexander Severus, was the last

Roman emperor

(11 March 222–235) of the

Severan dynasty

. Alexander Severus succeeded his cousin,

Elagabalus
 

upon the latter’s assassination in 222 AD, and was ultimately assassinated 

himself, marking the

epoch event

for the

Crisis of the Third Century

—nearly fifty years of disorder, Roman civil 

wars, economic chaos, regional rebellions, and external threats that brought the 

Empire to near-collapse.

Alexander Severus was the

heir 

apparent
to his cousin, the eighteen-year-old Emperor who had been murdered 

along with his mother by his own guards—and as a mark of contempt, had their 

remains cast into the

Tiber river

. He and his cousin were both grandsons of the influential and 

powerful Julia Maesa

, who had arranged for Elagabalus’ acclamation as Emperor by the 

famed

Third Gallic Legion

.

A rumor of Alexander’s death circulated, triggering the assassination of 

Elagabalus.

Alexander’s reign was marked by troubles. In military conflict against the 

rising

Sassanid Empire

, there are mixed accounts, though the Sassanid threat was 

checked. However, when campaigning against

Germanic tribes

of

Germania
, 

Alexander Severus apparently alienated his legions by trying diplomacy and 

bribery, and they assassinated him.

 Life

Alexander was born with the name Marcus Julius Gessius Bassianus Alexianus. 

Alexander’s father,

Marcus Julius Gessius Marcianus

was a Syrian

Promagistrate

. His mother

Julia Avita Mamaea

was the second daughter of

Julia 

Maesa
and Syrian noble

Julius Avitus

and maternal aunt of Emperor

Elagabalus
. 

He had an elder sister called Theoclia and little is known about her. 

Alexander’s maternal great-aunt was empress

Julia 

Domna
(also Maesa’s younger sister) and his great-uncle in marriage was 

emperor Lucius

Septimius Severus

. Emperors

Caracalla
 

and

Publius Septimius Geta

, were his mother’s maternal cousins. In 221, 

Alexander’s grandmother, Maesa, persuaded the emperor to adopt his cousin as 

successor and make him

Caesar

and Bassianus changed his name to Alexander. In the following 

year, on March 11, Elagabalus was murdered, and Alexander was proclaimed emperor 

by the

Praetorians

and accepted by the Senate.

When Alexander became emperor, he was young, amiable, well-meaning, and 

entirely under the dominion of his mother. Julia Mamaea was a woman of many 

virtues, and she surrounded the young emperor with wise counsellors. She watched 

over the development of her son’s character and improved the tone of the 

administration. On the other hand, she was inordinately jealous. She also 

alienated the army by extreme parsimony, and neither she nor her son were strong 

enough to impose military discipline. Mutinies became frequent in all parts of 

the empire; to one of them the life of the jurist and praetorian praefect

Ulpian
was 

sacrificed; another compelled the retirement of

Cassius 

Dio
from his command.

On the whole, however, the reign of Alexander was prosperous until the rise, 

in the east, of the

Sassanids

. Of the war that followed there are various accounts. (Mommsen 

leans to that which is least favourable to the Romans). According to Alexander’s 

own dispatch to the senate, he gained great victories. At all events, though the 

Sassanids were checked for the time, the conduct of the Roman army showed an 

extraordinary lack of discipline. The emperor returned to

Rome and celebrated 

a triumph in 233.

The following year he was called to face German invaders in

Gaul, who had 

breached the Rhine frontier in several places, destroying forts and over-running 

the countryside. Alexander mustered his forces, bringing legions from the 

eastern provinces, and crossed the Rhine into Germany on a pontoon bridge. 

Initially he attempted to buy the German tribes off, so as to gain time. Whether 

this was a wise policy or not, it caused the Roman legionaries to look down on 

their emperor as one who was prepared to commit unsoldierly conduct.

Herodian
 

says “in their opinion Alexander showed no honourable intention to pursue the 

war and preferred a life of ease, when he should have marched out to punish the 

Germans for their previous insolence”. These circumstances drove the army to 

look for a new leader. They chose

Gaius Iulius Verus Maximinus

, a Thracian soldier who had worked his way up 

through the ranks.

Following the nomination of Maximinus as emperor, Alexander was slain (on 

either March 18 or March 19, 235), together with his mother, in a mutiny of the

Primigenia Legio XXII

. These assassinations secured the throne for 

Maximinus.

The death of Alexander is considered as the end of the Principate 

system established by

Augustus
. 

Although the Principate continued in theory until the reign of

Diocletian
, 

Alexander Severus’ death signalled the beginning of the chaotic period known as 

the

Crisis of the Third Century

which weakened the empire considerably.

 Legacy

Alexander was the last of the Syrian emperors. Under the influence of his 

mother, he did much to improve the morals and condition of the people. His 

advisers were men like the famous jurist Ulpian, the historian Cassius Dio and a 

select board of sixteen senators; a municipal council of fourteen assisted the 

urban praefect in administering the affairs of the fourteen districts of Rome. 

The luxury and extravagance that had formerly been so prevalent at the court 

were put down; the standard of the coinage was raised; taxes were lightened; 

literature, art and science were encouraged; the lot of the soldiers was 

improved; and, for the convenience of the people, loan offices were instituted 

for lending money at a moderate rate of interest.

In religious matters Alexander preserved an open mind. It is said that he was 

desirous of erecting a temple to the

founder of 

Christianity
, but was dissuaded by the pagan priests.

 Marriage

Alexander was married three times. His most famous wife was

Sallustia Orbiana

,

, whom he married in 225. He divorced and exiled her in 227, 

after her father,

Seius Sallustius

, was executed for attempting to assassinate the emperor. 

Another wife was Sulpicia Memmia. Her father was a man of consular rank; her 

grandfather’s name was Catulus.