I'm talking about Caracalla and Julia Soaemias, who were indeed cousins on their mothers' sides. Post your coins of these "kissing cousins," Caracalla and Julia Soaemias! The story begins with Septimius Severus and his wife Julia Domna: Septimius Severus, AD 193-211 Roman Provincial AE 16.4 mm; 2.34 g Moesia Inferior, Marcianopolis Obv: ΑV Κ Λ CΕ|CΕVΗΡΟ[C], laureate and draped bust right Rev: ΜΑΡΚΙΑΝΟ|ΠΟΛΙΤΩΝ, eagle standing facing, head right Refs: Moushmov 391a var. (obv. legend); Pick (AMNG) 593 Julia Domna, AD 193-211 Roman Orichalcum Dupondius; 10.61 g, 24.2 mm Rome, AD 195 Obv: IVLIA DOMNA AVG, bare-headed and draped bust, right. Rev: FECVNDITAS SC, Fecunditas seated right, nursing one child; second child stands before her. Refs: RIC 844; BMCRE 494; RCV 6639; Cohen 43; Hill 126 Ex Ars Classica VIII, 1924; Bement Collection, lot 1184. Die-match to BMCRE 494, pl. 21.4. Severus and Julia Domna had two sons, Caracalla and Geta and I wonder if the two children on the reverse of the Dupondius of Julia Domna above are meant to represent them: Caracalla AD 198-217 Roman AR Denarius 3.37 g; 19.7 mm Rome mint, AD 211 Obv: ANTONINVS PIVS AVG BRIT, laureate head, right Rev: INDVLG FECVNDAE, Julia Domna as Indulgentia, wearing polos, seated left on cerule chair, extending right hand and holding scepter Refs: RIC 214; BMCRE 73; RCV 6805 Geta as Caesar AR denarius Rome, AD 202 3.24 gm, 18.3 mm Obv: P SEPT GETA CAES PONT, bare-headed and draped bust, r. Rev: SECVRIT IMPERII, Securitas enthroned l., hoding globe. Refs: RIC-20; BMC-240; Cohen-183; Sear-7200; Hill-553 However, this branch of the Severan Dynasty came to an end through murder, suicide, and childlessness. After his father's death, Caracalla committed fratricide against his unmarried and childless younger brother, Geta, with whom he shared the rank of Augustus. Although Caracalla was married to Plautilla, the couple was childless and after he was murdered by his praetorian prefect, Macrinus, his mother Julia Domna committed suicide. That might have ended the Severan dynasty, but Julia Domna had a younger sister, Julia Maesa, widow to the consul Julius Avitus. This made her Caracalla's maternal aunt. Julia Maesa, Augusta AD 218-225 Roman Orichalcum Sestertius; 21.28 gm; 29.2 mm Rome mint, AD 218-220 Obv: IVLIA MAESA AVGVSTA, diademed and draped bust, r. Rev: PIETAS AVG SC, Pietas standing l., sacrificing over altar and holding incense box. Refs: RIC 414; Cohen 31; BMCRE 389; Sear 7763; Thirion 408 Now, Julia Maesa had two daughters, Julia Soaemias and Julia Mamaea. Julia Soaemias, Augusta AD 218-222 Roman AR Denarius; 3.02 g, 19.2 mm Rome, AD 320-322 Obv: IVLIA SOAEMIAS AVG, bare-headed and draped bust, r. Rev: VENVS CAELESTIS, Venus diademed and standing l., holding apple and scepter; in right field a star. Refs: RIC 341; BMCRE 49; RCV 7719 var.; Cohen 8 Julia Mamaea, Augusta, AD 222-235 Roman AR Denarius; 3.23 g, 18.6 mm Rome, AD 230, 11th emission Obv: IVLIA MAMAEA AVG, diademed and draped bust, r. FELICITAS PVBLICA, Felicitas seated l., holding caduceus and cornucopiae Refs: RIC 338; BMCRE 658; RCV 8219; Cohen 24 Therefore, Julia Soaemias and Julia Mamaea were cousins to Caracalla and Geta. The two daughters were very much alive and had children of their own at the time their cousin Caracalla was murdered and Macrinus assumed the throne. Their mother, Julia Maesa (I know it gets confusing because they are all named Julia), clearly held emperor Macrinus responsible for her sister Julia Domna's death and was seeking revenge. Meanwhile, Macrinus was losing support with his deeply unpopular peace settlement with the Parthians. The time seemed for an attempt of overthrowing him. Julia Soaemias had a son, Elagabalus. This made him Caracalla's first cousin, once removed. Elagabalus, AD 218-222 Roman AR Denarius; 2.99 g, 18.2 mm Rome, AD 221-222 Obv: Ref: SVMMVS SACERDOS AVG, Elagabalus in priestly robes, standing l., sacrificing over tripod-altar, holding patera and branch, star in field, l. Refs: RIC 146; BMCRE 232; RCV 7549; Cohen 276 Now, this is where the kissing cousins part comes in. In order to accomplish the overthrow of Macrinus, Julia Soaemias spread the rumor that she had had an incestuous relationship with her cousin, Caracalla, and that he was the actual father of her son, Elagabalus. If the memory of Caracalla was much cherished in the army, then support for his "son" Elagabalus was now easily found. Now, there's no evidence this was true, but if it were so, he would have been both son and first cousin, once removed, to Caracalla. All along a mysterious figure called Gannys seems to have masterminded the plot against emperor Macrinus. He appears to have been either a eunuch servant of Julia Maesa, or in fact the lover of Julia Soaemias. Then, on the night of 15 May AD 218, the fateful moment arrived for Julia Maesa and Julia Soaemias to let their plot unfold. Elagabalus, who was only fourteen years old, was secretly taken to the camp of the Legio III 'Gallica' at Raphaneae and at the dawn of 16 May AD 218 he was presented to the troops by their commander Publius Valerius Comazon. The troops had been bribed by a substantial sum paid for by the wealthy Julia Maesa and Elagabalus was hailed emperor and assumed the name Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, the name of Caracalla, his supposed "father." There's more to the story, involving Julia Maesa plotting to have the praetorian guard kill Elagabalus, along with his mother Julia Soaemias, and installing her other grandson Severus Alexander, the son of Julia Mamaea, on the throne but that's a story for another day. The whole family tree is summarized in this graphic from Wikipedia:
kool coins, write up and history! i still need a couple emperors coins and most of the julias..et usque ad historiae antiquae!
Thanks for the history lesson and illustration of these times through coins. One of the primary sources for the reigns of Septimius Severus, Caracalla, Geta, Macrinus, Elagabalus, and Severus Alexander is Herodian. Here's a link if anybody wants to read it. http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/index.htm#Herodian_Roman_Histories
Great history, true or not. We do know who the power players were at the time, and all of the story is plausible. Here are coins from the family from my collection
I have a theory that Elagabalus' name is a Latinization of two words "allah" and "jebel" so technically his name means "Allah's mountain" in Arabic. Not sure what it would be in Syriac, though.
In one episode of the Simpson we hear the story of how the rivalry between Springfield and Shelbyville started:
Wikipedia mostly agrees with you on the origins of the deity's name: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elagabalus_(deity) ...although there "llah gabal" is translated as "God of the mountain" rather than "God's mountain".
i wonder what happened to the original meteorite they worshiped. Mecca has a black stone and so does India, but i wonder where the Egal/Roman one went..
I'm not an expert at all in the field, but there may be some connection between the Egal stone and that of the kaa'ba, at least in terms of the origin of Muhammad's religion, which was probably based on some local Arabian religious beliefs prior to his emergence.
That has been an internet rumor for some time but when I was researching the backstory for the denarius below, it seemed to merely be a "fun" rumor. https://www.cointalk.com/threads/ancients-a-boy-and-his-stone.254886/ Elagabalus AR denarius, 19.4 mm, 3.5 gm Antioch, CE 218-219 Obv: ANTONINVS PIVS FEL AVG, Laureate draped cuirassed bust right Rev: SANCT DEO SOLI / ELAGABAL, Quadriga right, bearing sacred baetyl of Emesa, flanked by four parasols Ref: RIC IV 195
Great coins and write-up @Roman Collector! At first I thought you were describing season one of Game of Thrones... Here is a unusual provincial of Caracalla with his mom on the reverse. Cilicia, Hieropolis-Kastabala. Caracalla AE25. Julia Domna reverse Caracalla AD 198-217. AE 24 Date Struck : AD 198-217 Weight : 12.09 g Obverse Legend : AVT K M AV ANTwNEINOC Obverse Description : Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right Reverse Legend : IOVΛIA ΔOMNA CEB Reverse Description : Domna standing facing, head left, extending arm over lit alter. SNG Righetti 1725 Ziegler 1431
