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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;John Anthony, post: 1791679, member: 42773&quot;]Julia Mamaea&#039;s distinction may reside in the fact that she had to clean up the disastrous messes that Caracalla and Elagabalus had made prior to her reign - and she did a damn fine job of it for a while, as Alexander Severus&#039; regent.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>But her relationship with her son suggests something creepy and Oedipal. He was a mama&#039;s boy, to the point of proclaiming her <i>consors imperii</i>, and never escaped (nor seemingly desired to escape) her maternal domination. She loathed Severus&#039; wife, Barbia - had her thrown out of the house and executed her father. It makes you wonder what was going on between mother and son behind closed doors.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Severus&#039; mismanagement of the Rhine legions compelled them to promote Maximinus Thrax to emperor, and when troops arrived to execute Alexander, they found him cowering in his mothers arms. They both got the axe.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>I like all the coins in this thread, and I take no issue whatsoever with dark toning on silver that&#039;s almost 1800 years old. Mat&#039;s denarius is in a higher grade, but as far as the color goes, the only difference between the two is that one has been more thoroughly cleaned than the other. If I were at all bothered by the toning on Bing&#039;s piece, I&#039;d give it a dip, but of course that&#039;s a matter of personal preference. Rough surfaces bother me more than toning.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>The provincial that Jerry posted, in it&#039;s condition, is probably much more scarce than good denarii. Outside of Alexandria, I don&#039;t see many Near East provincials that were well-made, and survived the centuries well-preserved. If I had to choose between the three coins posted, that&#039;s the one I would want in my collection.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>I have a coin from Bostra which is a more typical example. These coins were cast, not struck, and started out their lives with weak features. Couple that with the hot, arid climes of many areas of the Levant, and you usually get very dull devices with desert patinas. You rarely find examples in better condition...</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><a href="http://postimage.org/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://postimage.org/" rel="nofollow"><img src="http://s21.postimg.org/qo4n93047/mamaea.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></a>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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