Struck in 203-204 AD, the obverse features a laureate portrait of Severus with the famous "corkscrew" beard and the legend SEVERVS PIVS AVG, pretty standard for later issues of this emperor. It's the reverse that I really like. It shows Dea Caelestis, the patron diety of the city of Carthage, riding a lion and holding a thunderbolt and scepter; behind them springs water from a rock. In the exergue reads IN CARTH. What's special about this coin is the fact that the reverse legend--INDVLGENTIA AVGG--is not a metaphorical reference, but rather is literal. Severus, the first African emperor (born in Leptis Magna, whose magnificent ruins remain in what is today Libya), was commemorating an aqueduct he had built in that greatest of African cities, Carthage. INDVLGENTIA here refers not to the personification of Indulgence but rather the actual indulgence of the emperors (double "Gs" in "AVGG" mean their were two emperors at the time, in this case Severus and his eldest son Caracalla) in building the waterway. I suspect the aqueduct may have been built as a reward for that city's support of Severus claim to the purple in 193-194 AD against Pescennius Niger.
Technorati Tags: Roman history, Septimius Severus, Caracalla, Pescennius Niger, legionary, numismatics, military history
2 comments:
This may be outré of me, but you seem to be suffering from a problem with your images that I'm familiar with where the lighting makes them look as if the relief designs are in fact incuse. This 'inversion' is something we get from rotating a scanned image by 180°; I wonder if you are doing the same, or perhaps lighting from the lower edge. If the latter, I think lighting from the top edge would give a better impression of the coins. Otherwise, maybe your processing is causing this. It may be that I only see this as a problem because my boss does so I'm used to avoiding it; I don't mean to patronise. Hopefully a helpful comment.
Tenthmedieval,
Thanks for the comments. I simply put the coin on the scanner and scan. From the top edge, not the bottom. Perhaps it's the quality of my scanner or my scanning abilities (which, admittedly, are quite limited.) I appreciate your help and would welcome more. Please email me (address listed on main page) with more tips.
Thanks again!
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