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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Roman Collector, post: 3875649, member: 75937&quot;]Isis appears on few Roman imperial issues. The most famous imperial coin to depict the Egyptian goddess is a silver denarius of Julia Domna, wife of Septimius Severus, dated by the British Museum to the period 196-202. It was issued by two mints, the main mint in Rome and by an unknown eastern mint, traditionally attributed to Laodicea but more recently to Antioch.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1024199[/ATTACH]</p><p>Julia Domna, AD 193-217.</p><p>Roman AR denarius, 3.61 g, 17.7 mm, 12 h.</p><p>Rome, AD 196-202.</p><p>Obv: IVLIA AVGVSTA, bare-headed and draped bust, right.</p><p>Rev: SAECVLI FELICITAS, Isis, wearing polos, standing right, foot on prow, nursing infant Horus; behind them, a ship’s rudder leans against an altar.</p><p>Refs: RIC 577; BMCRE 75-82; Hill 504; Cohen 174; RCV 6606.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1023769[/ATTACH]</p><p>Julia Domna, AD 193-217.</p><p>Roman AR denarius, 3.07 g, 18.2 mm, 12 h.</p><p>Uncertain Eastern mint (Antioch?), AD 196-202.</p><p>Obv: IVLIA AVGVSTA, bare-headed and draped bust, right.</p><p>Rev: SAECVLI FELICITAS, Isis, wearing polos, standing right, left foot on prow, holding infant Horus on left arm, right hand on breast; behind them, rudder.</p><p>Refs: RIC 645; BMCRE 618; Cohen 174; RCV --; CRE 353.</p><p><br /></p><p>Some aspects of the coin&#039;s iconography are easy to explain, such as the nautical imagery in association with Isis. The prow and rudder recall Isis&#039;s role as goddess of navigation and travel. The annual Voyage of Isis festival took place each March 5, during which a ship containing her image was launched into the sea to mark the inauguration of the open navigation season after the winter.</p><p><br /></p><p>What is harder to explain is the role of Isis on the coin. Why does she appear at all? Isis had never appeared on an imperial coin issued for an empress up to this point, but as Mattingly and Sydenham note (p. 74), eastern deities begin to appear on Roman coins in the Severan period and coins of Julia Domna also depict Cybele in her role as mother of the gods.</p><p><br /></p><p>The reverse likely depicts Isis as a symbol of Julia Domna herself. The clue, I think, is in the eastern mint version. In addition to the tall polos she wears on her head, note the horizontal ridges/waves in Isis&#039;s hair. That&#039;s similar to the empress&#039;s own distinctive coiffure. I think that&#039;s no coincidence. I think Julia Domna is depicted <i>as</i> Isis, not just that Isis is depicted on a coin of Julia Domna.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1023775[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Julia Domna is Isis incarnate and she has a child! This is cause to proclaim <i>SAECVLI FELICITAS</i> (happy times). This coin is likely a dynastic type, showing Julia Domna as Isis with her young son Caracalla, named Caesar in AD 195, as Horus.</p><p><br /></p><p>The inscriptions <i>SAECVLI FELICITAS</i> or <i>TEMPORVM FELICITAS</i> often announce the birth of heirs to the throne on Roman coins. See, for example, these Antonine issues announcing the birth of male children to Marcus Aurelius and Faustina II.</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/antoninus-pius-temporvm-felicitas-sestertius-jpg.1021808/" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p>Antoninus Pius, AD 138-161.</p><p>Roman orichalcum sestertius, 22.64 gm, 31.5 mm, 12 h.</p><p>Rome, AD 149.</p><p>Obv: ANTONINVS AVG PIVS P P TR P XII, laureate bust right, slight drapery on left shoulder.</p><p>Rev: TEMPORVM FELICITAS, COS IIII in exergue, S C across field, crossed cornucopiae from which a grape bunch flanked by two grain ears hang, surmounted by confronted busts of two children.</p><p>Refs: RIC 857; BMCRE 1827-29; Cohen 813; RCV 4236; Strack 1026; Banti 411.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1023772[/ATTACH]</p><p>Faustina II, AD 147-176.</p><p>Roman AR denarius, 3.22 g, 17.0 mm, 12 h.</p><p>Rome, AD 161.</p><p>Obv: FAVSTINA AVGVSTA, bare-headed and draped bust, right.</p><p>Rev: SAECVLI FELICIT, Throne, upon which are seated two infant boys, Commodus and Antoninus.</p><p>Refs: RIC 711; BMCRE 136; Cohen 190; RCV 5260 var. (no diadem); CRE 221.</p><p><br /></p><p>Although Hill assigns this coin a date of AD 201, grouping it with another dynastic issue with the inscription <i>FELICITAS SAECVLI</i> and depicting Severus on the obverse and Julia, Caracalla and Geta on the reverse (Hill p. 19, 462; RIC-181c), only one child appears on this coin. Therefore, I think the coin must have been issued prior to AD 198, when Geta was proclaimed Caesar. For this reason, a date closer to AD 196 is more reasonable than as late as 202 (not that the British Museum doesn&#039;t know what they&#039;re doing, of course).</p><p><br /></p><p>Let me know what you think! Of course, post anything you feel is relevant.</p><p><br /></p><p>~~~</p><p><br /></p><p>Bibliography</p><p><br /></p><p>Hill, Philip V. <i>The Coinage of Septimius Severus and His Family of the Mint of Rome: A.D. 193-217</i>. Spink, 1964.</p><p><br /></p><p>MacMullen, Ramsay. <i>Paganism in the Roman Empire</i>. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1981.</p><p><br /></p><p>Mattingly, Harold and Sydenham, Edward A. <i>The Roman imperial coinage, vol. 4, Part 1: Pertinax to Geta</i>. London, Spink, 1936</p><p><br /></p><p>North, Daniel. &quot;Isis, Serapis, Cybele, and Sol Invictus on Roman Imperial Coins: An Introduction.&quot; <i>Missouri J. Numismatics</i>, vol. 13 (July 1988), pp. 3-10.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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