Apparently yesterday was my lucky day because I won not one, not two, but three denarii at auction when normally I consider it a good day if I win just one. I already shared the Lucilla denarius I won but at the time I didn’t know that I also won this pretty sweet Elagabalus: (If you zoom in it kinda looks like he has a swollen black eye or something) Elagabalus (AD 218-222). AR denarius (19mm, 2.86 gm, 12h). NGC Choice AU 5/5 - 5/5 Rome, AD 222. IMP ANTONINVS PIVS AVG, laureate, draped, cuirassed bust right, seen from behind / PAX-AVGVSTI, Pax advancing left, with branch in right hand, scepter in left. RIC IV.II 125. Unfortunately for me I’m quickly getting to a period in Roman history where the denarius was replaced almost entirely by the antoninianus so I’ll have to start working backwards from Domitian but it’s nice to see my collection grow month by month .
Nice coin, my first "Elagabalus" coin was not as good in condition but also a Denarius: Emperor Antoninus "Elagabalus" - Denarius - VICTORIA AVG
Nice coin indeed. Beautiful Pax on the reverse. Congrats. My denarius refers to Elagabalus' role as priest of the Syrian god from whom he took his nickname. His religious fanaticism was a primary cause of his downfall. Love the history of this coin. If you look closely you can see the bull with horns on the reverse behind the altar. On the obverse another horn, but now on the emperor’s head. RIC 88, RSC 61. Elagabalus, denarius. 19 mm 3,12 g. Obv. IMP ANTONINVS PIVS AVG, laureate, horned, draped and bearded bust right. Rev. INVICTVS SACERDOS AVG, Elagabalus standing half left, branch in left, offering from patera in right over altar, recumbent bull behind altar, star left. Elagabalus (c. 203 – March 11, 222), also known as Heliogabalus or Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, was a Roman Emperor of the Severan dynasty who reigned from 218 to 222. g.
Very nice! Here are a couple more Elagabalus denarii, one portraying him looking quite young and the other a bit older, with a beard. On the second one, he appears to be wearing trousers of some sort on the reverse -- unusual for a Roman Emperor.
Very nice coin, probably uncirculated. It was certainly not minted in 222, the emperor's portrait looks too young, and I think the rev. legend and type PAX AVGVSTI fit better with the beginning of the new regime. Elagabalus was not at all interested by wars, he had other things in mind... On this denarius he looks much older, it was probably minted in the last months of the reign. IMP ANTONINVS PIVS AVG, Bust of Elagabalus bearded, horned, laureate, draped, right SVMMVS SACERDOS AVG, Elagabalus, in Syrian priestly robes, standing left, sacrificing out of patera in right hand over tripod, holding branch downwards in left hand; in field, star RIC IV Elagabalus 146
Elagabalus was not only "Pontifex Maximus" (head of the Roman religion), he was also "Summus Sacerdos", the "High Priest", head of the religion of Elagabal, the Syrian Sun-God. Oriental religions had high priests, Judaism for example, when the Jerusalem Temple was still standing. When this emperor was still a child and was called Varius Avitus Bassianus, he lived in Emesa (Homs, Syria) and had been made high priest of the Sun-God Elaiagabal or Elagabal, "God of the Mountain" (Aramaic el = god and gabal = mountain). When he was proclaimed son of Caracalla and legitimate heir to the Empire, he changed his name for Antoninus Pius and moved to Rome, but his faith was strong and the most important for him was his high priesthood of Elagabal ! Consequently he transported the sacred baetyl (a Black Stone) of Elagabal to Rome, put it in a temple on the Palatine and made its cult a new official religion of Rome, besides the traditional one. On this coin the emperor is wearing the ritual robe of the Syrian priests. It is not a Roman costume at all. He should also be wearing some sort of tiara but on the coin he is laureate. Syrian priest robes = summus sacerdos; head laureate = Aug(ustus). There is a knot on his belly that maybe corresponds to the ritual belt you can see on this sculpture of Palmyra priests found in the temple of Nebo (Palmyra Archaeological Museum):
Elagabalus. (AD 218-222). AR Denarius. Rome mint. Struck (AD 221). O: IMP ANTONINVS PIVS AVG, Laureate and draped bust right; horned. R: P M TR P IIII COS III P P, Elagabalus standing left, holding cypress branch and sacrificing with patera over lighted altar to left; star to left. RIC IV 46
Thats kind of funny because he wasn’t Pius AT ALL. xD His reign was plagued by sex scandals and all kinds of impious behaviors. In fact he married the Vestal Virgin Julia Aquilia Severa. That caused ALOT of anger among the Roman people because Vestals were prohibited from marrying or having sex under penalty of death.
He wasn't pious with respect to the Roman religion. He was certainly pious and sincere, from everything I've read, about his own religion, specifically the worship of Elagabal. Also, nobody really knows how true all the scurrilous gossip about "sex scandals" was, including having sex with men or boys -- something rumored about the substantial majority of the Twelve Caesars! -- and the mere fact of his supposedly being transgender. I would have thought your coin was relatively early as well, by the way, simply because he's beardless.
But what about the fact that he married a Vestal Virgin (Julia Aquilia Severa)? That is a big No-No when it comes to the ancient Roman religion. You don’t get involved with Vestal Virgins. In fact there are stories about Vestal Virgins who were executed for merely having sexual intercourse with a man. The Romans didn’t mess around when it came to Vestal Virgins because they represented Rome’s protection by the Goddess Vesta and they believed Vesta would abandon her protection of Rome if they violated their vows of celibacy. They also had special protections too. If a Roman citizen struck a Vestal Virgin he was immediately put to death as they were considered inviolable.
In Rome this emperor was very controversial, but everything he did was perfectly legal. Being the Pontifex Maximus, he was the only male admitted in the Temple of Vesta and in the House of Vestal virgins. The Pontifex Maximus was - and still is - the only one who has the right to touch what is sacred : a plebeian tribune (Tiberius Gracchus was killed by a mob led by the Pont. Max. Scipio Nasica), the calendar (reformed by the Pont. Max. Julius Caesar and later by the Pont. Max. Gregory XIII), a Vestal Virgin. Today the catholic marriage is a sacrament that cannot be cancelled except by the Pont. Max., the Pope. Elagabalus also justified this by the fact she was a priestess, and himself was the High Priest: in oriental religions sex could be a religious act, there were sacred prostitutes in temples, and sex between the priest and priestess was a ritual called "hierogamy". And please, consider that Elagabalus married her ! He did not act like Caracalla (another Pont. Max. by the way) who had attempted to rape a Vestal...
Does anyone happen to know if that brownish/reddish color on my coin is toning or is it the copper from the constant debasement finally showing in the coin?
Elagabalus has some nice looking antoniniani too. I like the one below especially for the VICTOR ANTONINI AVG legend. ELAGABALUS AR Antoninianus. 4.21g, 22.8mm. Rome mint, AD 219. RIC 152; RSC 294. O: IMP CAES ANTONINVS AVG, radiate and draped bust right, seen from behind. R: VICTOR ANTONINI AVG, Victory advancing right with palm branch and wreath. Ex Michael Kelly Collection
Yeah for sure that’s a beautiful antoninianus. I just stick with denarii because that’s what I collect and my goal is to collect 1 denarius of every Emperor of the Roman Empire from Augustus to the end of the denarius which I believe is Phillip I. Mostly because the denarius goes back to the Roman Republic and by the time the antoninianus was first minted all my favorite Emperor’s were long dead. Unfortunately for me some Emperors like Caligula & Phillip I will be nearly impossible to purchase even in poor condition but I’d like to see how many I can get. When I get as far as I can go I might start collecting the wives of the Emperors or move into medieval coinage. I’ve always thought medieval coinage looks so cool. That’s still quite a while away though. My immediate goal is to try to get Augustus & Tiberius. Fortunately even though they are expensive they aren’t unrealistically expensive in XF grade like Caligula is in any grade.
Aurelian revived the denarius as part of his monetary reform of AD 274, and it was -- like the new antoninianus (sometimes called the "Aurelianus") -- a silvered but heavily debased coin. Denarii for Aurelian were struck in Rome, Mediolanum, Serdica, Siscia, and Cyzicus and come in a variety of reverse types, although the VICTORIA AVG is by far the most common of these. In contrast, those for Severina were struck in Rome only and only with the VENVS FELIX reverse type. There are only five varieties of this type, distinguished only by the markings in the exergue. Here are one of each, struck during the same issue by the same officina in the Rome mint (numbered sequentially in MER/RIC and in the La Venera and CNB catalogs). Aurelian, AD 270-275. Roman billon denarius, 1.66 g, 15.7 mm, 11 h. Rome mint, officina 5, issue 11, early – September AD 275. Obv: IMP AVRELIANVS AVG, radiate and cuirassed bust, right. Rev: VICTORIA AVG, Victory walking left, holding wreath and palm; at feet to left, a bound and seated captive; –/–//∈. Refs: RIC 73 var.; MER/RIC temp 1680; Cohen 255 var.; RCV 11643; CBN 283-84; La Venera 1508-9. Severina, AD 270-275. Roman billon denarius, 2.52 g, 18.8 mm, 6 h. Rome mint, officina 5, issue 11, early – September AD 275. Obv: SEVERINA AVG, diademed and draped bust, right. Rev: VENVS FELIX, Venus standing left, holding unidentified object (perfume box, apple?) and long scepter; –/–//∈. Refs: RIC 6; MER/RIC 1861; Cohen 14; RCV 11710; CBN 285-86; La Venera 1510-11.
