OTD: 222 CE "Momma, life had just begun... AKA The boy who ruled the world

How this delicious Jem of teen angst nearly slipped past the goalie I'll never know!
Here's your reminder that 1,797 years ago Elagabalus and his momma, Julia Soaemia, we're murdered for being all around weirdos (how I wish I had one of those coins with the elagabal stone).
I will say, remind yourself of the hell you'd be responsible for if you had rule of most of the then known world...



Elagabalus

AR Denarius AD 218-222. Rome, AD 221/2. IMP ANTONINVS PIVS AVG, laureate and draped bust of Elagabalus right. Reverse ABVNDAN-TIA AVG, Abundantia standing facing, head left, emptying contents from cornucopiae; in right field, star. RIC 56; BMC 189; RSC 1a. Boldly struck





Post any of his, his family, or anything that your teen angst mind could riddle up with!

 

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There were but a handful of denarii issued for his momma. Here they are:

 

a few more of the boy-emperor...

 

Not so much murdered, rather it was Roman Justice when that freak show arrived in Rome...


RI Julia Soaemias 218-222 CE AR Den Venus Caelestis star RIC IV 241



RI Elagabalus 218-222 CE AR Antoninianus Radiate Roma seated

 

This guy... he may have been a terrible emperor but he sure was a unique personality and for that, I like him.

Elagabalus Rome RIC 125



The following text is from the wiki page sourced below. This is not the full text but an edited version. For the full article, click the link:

The Roses of Heliogabalus is an 1888 painting by the Anglo-Dutch artist Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema depicting the young Roman emperor Elagabalus (203–222 AD) hosting a banquet.

The painting depicts a (probably invented) episode in the life of the Roman emperor Elagabalus, also known as Heliogabalus (204–222), taken from the Augustan History. Although the Latin refers to "violets and other flowers", Alma-Tadema depicts Elagabalus smothering his unsuspecting guests with rose petals released from a false ceiling. The original reference is this:

"In a banqueting-room with a reversible ceiling he once buried his guests in violets and other flowers, so that some were actually smothered to death, being unable to crawl out to the top."​

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Roses_of_Heliogabalus

 

I had planned to order the painting of a large copy of a similar work of Alma-Tadema (featuring the Severan family in the Colosseum) for my dining room...




... but then I started to collect ancient coins and the budget was gone


Here are my Sestertii of young Antoninus III, Julia Soaemias, and Julia Maesa:

 

Personally, I enjoy coins of Elagabalus that portray him as a dickhead. Definitely worth a juvenile snicker or two:

Silver Denarius
Rome mint, A.D. 221
Obv: IMP ANTONINVS PIVS AVG
Rev: P M TR P IIII COS III P P - Elagabalus, standing left, sacrificing with patera over altar and holding branch; star in left field
RIC 46
19mm, 1.9g.

 

The creepy kid and his grandma:


Elagabalus, Augustus AD 218-222, with grandmother, Julia Maesa, Augusta AD 218-224/5.
Roman provincial Æ pentassarion, 14.55 g, 28.4 mm, 12:00.
Moesia Inferior, Marcianopolis, under Legate Julius Antonius Seleucus, AD 220-221.
Obv: ΑVΤ•Κ•Μ•ΑVΡΗ•ΑΝΤΩΝΕΙΝΟC•ΙΟVΛΙΑ•ΜΑΙCΑ•ΑVΓ•, Laureate head of Elagabalus, right, facing diademed and draped bust of Julia Maesa, left.
Rev: VΠ•ΙΟV•ΑΝΤ•CΕΛΕVΚΟV ΜΑΡΚΙΑΝΟΠΟΛΙ-ΤΩΝ, Dikaiosyne standing left, holding scales and cornucopiae; E (5) in field, right
Refs: Moushmov --; AMNG 962; Varbanov 1620; Mionnet S. 2, 101, 273; similar to BMC 3. 36, 63.

 

The gal he fancied so much he married her twice...


AQUILIA SEVERA
2nd and 4th wife of Elagabalus
AR Denarius. 2.93g, 20mm. Rome mint, AD 220-222. RIC 226. O: IVLIA AQVILIA SEVERA AVG, draped bust right. R: CONCORDIA, Concordia standing left, holding patera and double cornucopiae; lit altar to left; star in right field.

 

Elagabalus - Antioch tet.

Elagabalus, 218-222 A.D., Antioch, Seleucis and Pieria
AR Tetradrachm, struck 218-220 A.D., 25mm 12.02 grams

Obverse: Laureate head of Elagabalus right
AVT K M A ANTONEINOC CEB

Reverse: Eagle standing left, wreath in beak, star between legs, delta epsilon in field
DH MARC EX UPATOC TO B

Reference: Prieur 249A; McAlee 760

 

He was definitely a weird kid coming out of Syria...

 

I've long wondered about the accuracy of the stories we are told about the kid-emperor. I think it's beyond doubt that he was obsessed with the religion of which he was the high priest, but the one thing that gives me pause is that he seems to have had the sense to halt the production of the antoninianus, which was doing long-term damage to the economy to keep the soldiers happy in the short term. At any rate, I can tell you that I would have done some strange things if I was given unchecked power and unlimited finances when I was 14 years old.

I have most of his motley crew



Just missing Annia Faustina and Severus Alexander as his Caesar!

 

..happy death day to you and yours Elag!..i'm with ya Ryro, on the stone coin

 

Yeah I want to get one of those coins with the black stone in the chariot. Is there a version on the denarii? Or is it just on the aureus?

 

@TIF has one that is to die for!

 

I think everyone interested in this emperor wants one of the black stone coins!

They are available as denarii, but it doesn't make them cheap!
https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=152498

Another curiosity is the extremely rare provincial tetradrachm in which he shows Plautilla, ostensibly because a rumor otherwise lost to history claimed he was the legitimate son of Caracalla and Plautilla.

https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=371920

 

@TIF got one of the denari...and a kool little set up too

 

I had more fun doing its writeup than with any other coin


Elagabalus
AR denarius, 19.4 mm, 3.5 gm
Antioch, 218-219 CE
Obv: ANTONINVS PIVS FEL AVG, Laureate draped cuirassed bust right
Rev: SANCT DEO SOLI / ELAGABAL, Quadriga right, bearing sacred Baetyl stone, flanked by four parasols
Ref: RIC IV 195
Vauctions 310, lot 250 (25 Sept 2014)
ex CNG Mail Bid Sale 33, lot 914 (15 March 1995)
https://www.cointalk.com/threads/ancients-a-boy-and-his-stone.254886/

Dramatic recreation of the reverse, starring Bart Simpson as Elagabalus, My Little Ponies for the quadriga horses, drink umbrellas "parasols", a shopping cart chariot, and the sacred, erm, potato-- with a backdrop of the Forvm shops at Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas.

 

A few more coins of the effervescent Elagabalus:


PHOENICIA, Tyre. Elagabalus
CE 218-222
AE29, 13.4 gm
Obv: Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right
Rev: Dido building Carthage; she stands to front before the arched gate of the city, looking left, holding a rule and transverse sceptre; above the gate, a mason at work, [below, a man digging with pick]; murex shell in upper field, palm tree to right
Ref: Rouvier 2375; BMC 409; AUB 245; Price & Trell 748


EGYPT, Alexandria. Elagabalus
tetradrachm, 24 mm, 13.27 gm
regnal year 4
Obv: laureate head right
Rev: Elagabalus standing right and empress (Aquilia Severa) standing left, each holding scepter, clasping right hands; L ∆ across field
Ref: Köln –; Dattari (Savio) 4098; K&G 56.43; Emmett 2929.4 (R4)


MOESIA INFERIOR. Marcianopolis. Elagabalus (218-222)
AE 17, 2.5 gm
Obv: AVT K M AVP ANTΩNINOC; laureate head right.
Rev: MAPKIANOΠOΛITΩN; Telesphorus standing facing.
Ref: Varbanov 1422.


MOESIA INFERIOR, Nikopolis ad Istrum. Elagabalus
Æ 26 mm, 12.5 gm
CE 218/9, Novius Rufus, consular legate
Obv: ...ΠΗ ANTΩNEINOC΄ laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Elagabalus right
Rev: VΠ NOBIOV POVΦOV NIKO[ΛOΛITΩN ΠPOC IC TP]; Athena standing left before serpent coiled around olive tree to left; shield on ground behind her
Ref: Hristova & Jekov 8.26.4.7 (same as last illus. Specimen); Varbanov 3906 (same dies as illus.); Moushmov 1384


MOESIA INFERIOR, Nikopolis ad Istrum. Elagabalus
AE 18 mm, 2.8 gm
Obv: AVT K M AVP ANTΩNINOC, laureate, draped, cuirassed bust right
Rev: NIKOΠOΛITΩ NΠPOCICTPO N, Priapus standing left, drawing back his cloak to expose his phallus, bowl of fruit balanced on phallus, right hand extended pouring from patera
Ref: Varbanov 3811, AMNG 2022 (I own neither of those references and cannot verify the numbers)



Elagabalus
AR denarius, 2.4g, 19mm, 6h; Antioch mint.
Obv.: ANTONINVS PIVS FEL AVG; Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right.
Rev.: TEMPORVM FEL; Felicitas standing left, holding caduceus and patera.
Reference: RIC IVb 201, p. 44.
ex Doug Smith Collection #527


MESOPOTAMIA, Edessa. Elagabalus
AE27, 15 gm
Obv: AVT K M A ANTΩNEINOC; radiate cuirassed bust left, holding shield and raising right hand.
Rev: AVP ........ EΔECCA; Tyche seated left on rock, holding corn ears; to left a column surmounted by a statue of Marsyas, river god swimming right at feet
Ref: Mionnet supplement 8, 26. Rare.


Elagabalus
AR denarius, Rome mint. Struck CE 221-222. 3.55 gm
Obv: IMP ANTONINVS PIVS AVG; laureate and draped bust right, with “horn” on forehead
Rev: SACERD DEI SOLIS ELAGAB; Elagabalus standing right, holding club and sacrificing from patera over lighted altar; star to right; faint star in left field (likely engraved and then mostly removed by grinding the field).
Ref: RIC IV 131; Thirion 302; RSC 246


MOESIA INFERIOR. Nikopolis ad Istrum
Elagabalus , CE 218-222
AE 26 mm, 11.1 gm
Obv: AYT K M AYP ANTΩNEINOC. Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right
Rev: VΠ NOBIOV POVΦOV NIKOΠOΛITΩN ΠPOC ICTPON. River-god reclining right, holding branch; prow at side
Ref: Varbanov 4055
ex Falter Collection, Nature Gods