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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Roman Collector, post: 2843345, member: 75937&quot;]Post anything relevant, guys!</p><p><br /></p><p>Happy to have added another coin to my Severina sub-collection. Usually, she&#039;s portrayed with a very &quot;butch&quot; hairstyle, such as these, and we on this forum frequently joke that the celators didn&#039;t know what she looked like, so they just depicted her husband Aurelian in drag:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]673247[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]673248[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]673249[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>But on this very late issue of Antioch--my new coin--she is portrayed as having the hairstyle of other third century empresses, such as Julia Mamaea, Otacilia Severa, Herennia Etruscilla, and Cornelia Salonina, who came before her.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]673250[/ATTACH]</p><p>Ulpia Severina, 270-275</p><p>Roman billon antoninianus, 4.17 g, 22 mm</p><p>Antioch mint, officina 4, issue 7, September – November 275</p><p>Obv: SEVERINA P F AVG, draped bust right, wearing stephane and set upon crescent</p><p>Rev: CONCORDIA AVG, Aurelian and Severina standing facing one another, clasping hands; Q // XXI</p><p>Refs: RIC 19; <a href="http://www.ric.mom.fr/en/coin/3202" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.ric.mom.fr/en/coin/3202" rel="nofollow">MER/RIC temp 3202</a>; RCV 11702; BNC 1359; Cohen 1; Hunter 31.</p><p><br /></p><p>A similar hairstyle is only found elsewhere in this issue from the Serdica mint, also from extremely late in her reign:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]673253[/ATTACH]</p><p>Severina, AD 270-275</p><p>Roman billon antoninianus; 4.01 g, 24.2 mm</p><p>Serdica, issue 8, November 274 – September 275</p><p>Obv: SEVERINA AVG, diademed and draped bust right on crescent</p><p>Rev: CONCORDIA AVGG, emperor and empress clasping hands, * in field between them; KA Δ in exergue</p><p>Refs: RIC 16; MER/RIC temp no 2827; RCV 11703; Cohen 2</p><p><br /></p><p>Now, Serdica and Antioch are very far from each other geographically. I think this indicates that by the end of 275 AD, either she changed her hairstyle or a true representation of her features--perhaps in the form of statuary--came to the mints in Serdica and Antioch.</p><p><br /></p><p>Another very interesting aspect of my new coin from Antioch is the bizarre obverse inscription with P F after her name and the singular form of AVG, as opposed to the plural form AVGG seen in the examples from the Rome and Serdica mints, above.</p><p><br /></p><p>Sear (RCV III, p. 439) notes:</p><p><br /></p><blockquote><p>The unorthodox titulature in the obverse legend, reminiscent of Julia Domna&#039;s IVLIA PIA FELIX AVG, together with the singular ending of the reverse legend and the unusual type, strongly suggest that Severina was regarded in Antioch as a reigning empress at the time this issue was made.</p></blockquote><p><br /></p><p>This, and other numismatic evidence, suggests that Severina ruled on her own after Aurelian&#039;s death, until the ascension of Tacitus to the throne, though the duration of this interregnum is much disputed by historians.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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