SEVERUS ALEXANDER and JULIA MAESA Marcianopolis Homonoia Roman Coin 222AD i48879

Item: i48879

 Authentic Ancient

Coin of:

Severus Alexander
–
Roman Emperor
: 222-235 A.D.
Severus Alexander and Julia Maesa
Bronze 27mm (8.63 grams) of

Marcianopolis in Moesia Inferiorr
 under Legate Tiberius Julius Festus
LLaureate draped and cuirassed bust of Severus Alexander on left facing right
toward diademed draped bust of Julia Maesa facing left on right.
V Π TIB IOVΛ ФHCTOV MAPKIANOΠOΛITΩN, 

Homonoia standing left, holding patera and cornucopia; E in field to
right.

You are bidding on the exact item pictured,

Authenticity.

Homonoia was a minor goddess of concord, unanimity, and oneness of mind in

classical Greek

culture.  Her opposite number was

Eris (Strife)

. She is associated with

Praxidike

the goddess of judicial

punishment
,

the exacter of vengeance. Praxidike’s daughters were

Arete

(a goddess personifying

virtue
) and

Harmonia

(the very spirit of concord). As such Homonoia was probably closely

identified with the Theban Goddess-Queen

Harmonia

.

Marcianopolis, or Marcianople was an ancient Roman city in

Thracia

. It was located at the site of modern day

Devnya
,

Bulgaria
.

The city was so renamed by Emperor

Trajan
after

his sister

Ulpia Marciana

, and was previously known as Parthenopolis. Romans repulsed a

Gothic
attack to

this town in 267
(or

268), during the

reign of Gallienus

.

Diocletian

made it the capital of the

Moesia Secunda

province.

Valens
made

it his winter quarters in 368 and succeeding years, Emperor

Justinian

I
restored and fortified it. In 587, it was sacked by the king of the

Avars

but at once retaken by the Romans. The Roman army quartered there in

596 before crossing the Danube to assault the Avars.

Between 893 and 972 it was one of the most important medieval cities in

south-eastern Europe.

 SEVERUS ALEXANDER

Augustus:
A.D. 222-235
Caesar: A.D. 221-222 under Elagabalus

Son of Julia Mamaea
Husband of Orbiana
Grandson of Julia Maesa
Nephew of Julia Soaemias
Cousin of Elagabalus
Second-cousin of Caracalla and Geta
Great-newphew of Septimius Severus and Julia Domna

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.