After losing "my" new Faustina I Sestertius (see my last post) I feel the urge of posting something else (darn, I had even prepared a writeup for that type!). As my latest purchase of a quality Sestertius is still in the process of waiting for it´s certification for export by the Italian government (this has been taking three months now and it is still not here...), you for now instead get to see what must be one of my worst preserved bronzes. Bought this as a cheap space filler on eBay but managed to take some decent pictures of it today: IULIA SOAEMIAS AVG – Draped and diademed bust of Julia Soaemias right, wearing stephane VENVS CAELESTIS –Venus Caelestis seated left on throne, holding apple in her right and long sceptre in her left hand, at her feet child standing right, arms raised and reaching towards her, SC in exergue Sestertius, Rome 220 RIC 406 (Elagabalus), Cohen 18, BMCRE 379 (Elagabalus), Sear 7725, Banti 5 (30 specimens) When Julia Soaemias was born in the Syrian capital of Emesa late in the reign of Marcus Aurelius as the daughter of Gaius Julius Avitus Alexianus and Julia Maesa, nobody would have anticipated that the husband of her maternal aunt Julia Domna, Septimius Severus, would emerge as the new Emperor in the civil war of 193 and Julia Soaemias thus would become part of the royal family and reside in Rome, where her husband, the Syrian Equestrian Sextus Valerius Marcellus, would became Senator due to this connection. After the death of her husband in 215 as governor of Numidia and the murder of her couisin Caracalla in 217, Julia was allowed to return to Emesa with her wealth and her son Varius Avitus Bassianus by the new Emperor Macrinus. That prooved to be Macrinus´worst mistake, as Bassianus, who had ascended as the chief priest of the Syrian Sun God Elagabalus, would be promoted as the new Antoninus, the natural child of his mother and her cousin by his grandmother Julia Maesa in the following year. When, after four years of disgrace, Elagabalus was killed, his mother shared his fate of being mutilated, dragged through the streets of the capital, and thrown into the Tiber. Her end thus must be the most humiliating of all roman empresses. Venus Caelestis, the celestial Venus, appears exclusively on the coinage of Julia Soaemias. PS. ups, how to you fix a misspelled title?
Go to "thread tools" at the top of your post and click on the arrow to open the drop-down menu. Cool coin, btw! Bronzes of Soaemias are hard to come by!
Very distinctive portrait on that sestertius Julia Soemias, Denarius - Rome mint, AD 220 IVLIA SOAEMIAS AVG, draped bust right VENVS CAELESTIS, Venus seated left, holding apple and sceptre. Before her, a child 4.16 gr Ref : RCV #7720, Cohen #14 Q
Nice pick up @Julius Germanicus - kind of hard to come by her sestertii and I'm glad that you filled a hole in your collection. Her demise was indeed a tragedy.
