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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Ed Snible, post: 2832339, member: 82322&quot;][ATTACH=full]667891[/ATTACH] </p><p>Septimus Severus 207-208 AD 3.05g denarius 18mm. Rome.</p><p>Laureate head right / Small head of Medusa facing, on aegis. RIC IV 286; BMCRE 357; RSC 591</p><p>CNG, e-auction 186, April 2008, lot 195</p><p><br /></p><p>A Numismatica Ars Classica cataloger wrote “The Medusa and Medusa-upon-Aegis types occur on precious metal coins of Septimius Severus and Caracalla, all of which perhaps belong to circa 207 AD since one of them names the 15th renewal of Severus’ tribunician power in its reverse inscription.... The basic principle of the type seems clear: it refers to the foresight (<i>providentia</i>), presumably in respect to the decision to invade Britain in the following year, 208. But the inscription falls short of naming the source of the foresight, the gods (<i>deorvm</i>) or the emperors (<i>avgvsti</i>)? The Medusa seems to offer a connection with Minerva, who, perhaps, is here cast in the role of having foresight for the care of the emperors or the Roman people.... Perhaps the best explanation for why the foresight is non-specific is because it might have derived from other sources utilized by Severus: astrology and augury. Severus was the most superstitious of emperors, and Dio tells us that before he committed the family to the British expedition he knew that he did not have long to live; as his final act he would remove his sons from Rome in hopes of reforming them on one last campaign, by which he would add Britannicus to his list of victory titles.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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