Severus Alexander, sestertius. AE 30 mm, 14.64 g, 12 h. Rome, 232. Obv. : IMP ALEXANDER PIVS AVG, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust seen from front Rev.: P M TR P XI COS III P P / S C, Sol, radiate, head left, standing front, raising right hand and holding whip in left hand. RIC 525d This specimen is relatively light. Numismatically speaking, he is probably one of the less sought after of Roman emperors. His coinage is interesting, however, and, because of this lack of interest, relatively affordable. He was a Syrian born in 208 in Arca, today Tell Arqa in Lebanon. His name was Alexianus. His father was the first husband of Julia Mamaea, the niece of the empress Julia Domna. In 218, his grandmother Julia Maesa (sister of the late Julia Domna) re-established the Severian dynasty, claiming that Caracalla had fathered the two sons of his cousins Julia Soaemias, mother of Bassianus ("Elagabalus"), and Julia Mamaea, mother of Alexianus. Elagabalus raised much opposition in Rome and was eventually murdered by the praetorians in 222. Some time before, he had adopted his cousin Alexianus, renamed Severus Alexander, and the young man became his successor at the age of 14. Severus Alexander was much less extravagant than his older cousin. He reigned under the strict control of his gandmother Julia Maesa and his mother Julia Mamaea. He married Sallustia Barbia Orbiana but soon divorced and sent her in exile in Libya. He married again Sulpicia Memmia but she played absolutely no role. Actually the power was held by a mother-and-son couple : Julia Mamaea and Severus Alexander. We have few reliable information about this emperor. His biography in Historia Augusta is meant to counterbalance the biography of his cousin and predecessor Elagabalus, and to be its exact opposite, like both cousins were a single person, Severus Alexander being Dr Jekyll and Elagabalus Mr Hyde. The young Severus Alexander seems to have done his best to be seen as a "good emperor". He sent back to Hemesa (Homs, Syria) the sacred baetyl of Elagabal his cousin had brought to Rome and tried to impose there as the supreme deity. He loved philosophy and all religions, worshipping in his private lararium (his private chapel) statues of the "great souls" among which were Apollonius of Tyana, Jesus Christ, Abraham and Orpheus. I wonder what a statuette of Jesus in the 220s would have looked like... If this story is true, Severus Alexander may be called a precursor. He had to face a revolution in Persia, when the king of Persis Ardashir toppled the last Parthian emperor and wanted to restore the old Persian Empire, claiming the oriental provinces of the Roman Empire because they had belonged to the Persian Empire. Severus Alexander declared war on him, rebuilt the Roman army that had been neglected under Macrinus and Elagabalus, left Rome for Antioch, attacked Ardashir's forces in Mesopotamia with some success : he did not completely defeat him and had eventually to withdraw, but the new Persian Sassanid dynasty would never again reclaim the restoration of the Persian Empire in its full former territorial extension. Severus Alexander and his mother moved west to fight the Germanic tribes, but they were assassinated by their own soldiers in 235.
Very nice. Severus Alexander (222 - 235 A.D.) Æ Sestertius O: IMP ALEXANDER PIVS AVG, laureate bust right with slight drapery on far shoulder. R: SPES PVBLICA S C, Spes advancing left, flower in right, raising skirt with left. Rome Mint, 232 A.D. 19g 29mm RIC IV 648
Very nice sestertius @GinoLR with the orichalcum showing through the patina. Just purchased a Severus Alexander myself a couple of weeks ago, albeit a denarius, and you are correct that prices for this Emperor are very reasonable. SEVERUS ALEXANDER. Denarius. 231 AD. Rome mint. Obv/ IMP ALEXANDER PIVS AVG, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right. Rev/ P M TR P X COS III P P, Sol, radiate, standing left, nude except for cloak over left shoulder, holding globe and raising right hand in salute. Cat: RIC 109D; RSC 411 Silver (Ar) 3,3g - 21mm
Severus Alexander wanted to be a "normal" emperor. He is depicted sacrificing dressed as a traditional Roman imperator, wearing the toga. Not like his cousin Elagabalus (1st coin) who dressed like a Syrian priest...
