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Message:: [QUOTE="Ocatarinetabellatchitchix, post: 6691043, member: 99554"]Severus Alexander was promoted from Caesar to Augustus March 13th 222 AD at the age of 13 years old, after the murder of his cousin, Elagabalus. His thirteen (it's a lot of "13" in two sentences...) years of reign were marked by great economic prosperity, and he enjoyed great success against the barbarian tribes. He could be called a mommy's boy; Julia Mamaea , his mother, was the real power in the empire, controlling her son's policies and even his personal life with great authority. The Emperor and his mother embarked in a campaign in Germany in 234 AD, to deal with a series of Germanic incursions across the Rhine. A large army was concentrated near Mainz, and a crossing of the Rhine was planned. Severus, however, decided to attempt to negotiate a peace treaty with the Germans. The legions saw this act as an act of Imperial cowardice, and, already chaffing over Mamaea's imperious manner, broke out into open mutiny, and finally killed Alexander and his mother.[ATTACH=full]1270124[/ATTACH] Musée le Louvre, Paris Alexander attempted to reform the coinage somewhat during his reign, and increased the issue of dupondii while stopping mysteriously the production of antoninianii (it's a lot of "i" in one word). Portraits dating from the first years of his reign are those if a young boy. Later portraits show the steady development of adult features and even the growth of a beard. In contrast of his cousin, he showed little outward affection for his Syrian ancestors' homeland asides from the continued and prominent veneration of the sun-god Sol. [ATTACH=full]1270123[/ATTACH]Sestertius, SOL raising hand & holding whip In consequence of his centralist inclinations the once-important provincial mint of his apparently closed within a year or two of his accession to the throne. Most of the time, the denarii of Antioch will feature a star in the reverse field, which is an early form of mintmark.Annona is a very popular theme in his coinage. It seems that the delivery system for North African grain was transformed in some manner, maybe involving the regulation of the ship-owners and merchants guilds. [ATTACH=full]1270121[/ATTACH]As, Annona holding corn-ears and anchor, modius at feet The changing of Imperial emphasis from expanding the frontiers to simply defending them is demonstrated in the appearance of Jupiter Stator (Jupiter, the stayer of flight), a highly defensive manifestation of that deity. [ATTACH=full]1270122[/ATTACH]Denarius, Jupiter Stator Regarding the aureus, we can notice a regular and continuous reduction in weight between the years 193-215 AD: from 7.25g to 6.5g. Then from 6.5g to 3.6g between 215 and 251 AD; however under the reign of Severus Alexander, we note significant variations in weight since he made strike aurei weighting between 5.38 and 7.25g ...During the time he was Emperor, the weight of the sestertius was variable to the point that it often became indistinguishable with the dupondius. The dupondius , as you know, was easily recognizable by its exclusive use of the radiate crown but laureate bronzes in the 11-14g zone are of ambiguous denomination. Theoretically, it should have been easy to distinguish the pure copper of the as with the bright brassy orichalcum alloy used for the larger coins. But by the 3rd century, very little high quality orichalcum was being use; so this last differentiating characteristic was inapplicable. So how can we resolve the problem? Taking into consideration that the average weight of the dupondius is around 11.7g, many experts consider an arbitrary weight of 12g is reasonable to separate the two; anything about this weight being a de facto sestertius and anything below an as irrespective of design. We can find a very wide variety in Severus Alexander's coinage, and he is also one of the most affordable Emperors to collect. So on the day he wore the purple, please show me your "mommy's boy" examples ![/QUOTE]

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