Septimius Severus Legionary Type: Legio IIII Flavia

If, like me, you are interested in Roman emperors of military significance, then you must, at some point, engulf yourself in the history of the reign of Septimius Severus (193-211 AD). Though Septimius's reign brought a degree of stability to the empire after the tumultuous reign of Commodus and the subsequent debacles of Pertinax and Didius Julianus, his eighteen years on the throne in most respects transformed Rome into a military dictatorship and is often seen as a bridge between the peace and prosperity of the era of the "Five Good Emperors" and the chaos and crisis of the mid and later third century. "The contemporaries of Severus, in the enjoyment of the peace and and glory of his reign, forgave the cruelties by which it had been introduced," wrote Edward Gibbon. Perhaps no Roman emperor before or since owed their accession to the purprle through military might more so than Septimius. He remarkably defeated three separate claimants to the throne - Didius Julianus in Rome and Pescennius Niger in the East in 193 AD and then Clodius Albinus in Gaul in 195-197 AD.

Upon the death of Pertinax and the purchase of the empire by Didius Julianus in 193 AD, Septimius, the governor of Pannonia, was proclaimed emperor by his troops and accumulated the support of sixteen legions along the Rhine, Danube, and Dacian frontiers. This denarius is part of a special coinage series from the Rome mint in 193 AD that celebrated the sixteen legions that supported Septimius's bid for the throne against Didius Julianus. This particular coin honors legio IIII Flavia. Created by Vespasian in 70 AD, in 193 AD the legion was stationed at Singidunum (modern Belgrade) in the province of Moesia Superior. The legion remained loyal to Septimius through the war with Pescennius Niger, as well as through the later war with Clodius Albinus.

In the long run, Septimius's monetary policy – "Give the soldiers money and despise everyone else," as Dio sums it up – did the most harm to the empire, as he and his successors were forced to debase the silver coinage to dangerous levels and his pay raises to the troops unquestionably led to more money in circulation. Some of this was not entirely Septimius's fault. It cannot have been easy to raise funds – to pay donatives to the troops as well as prepare for a war in the East against Niger – after both Pertinax and Didius Julianus had paid large donatives to the soldiers. The legionary series of coinage, therefore, was probably struck to pay donatives to Septimius's troops. In fact, shortly after the military expedition left Rome for the war against Niger, the Severan forces mutinied over the choice of camp, less than ten miles north of the city. It was apparently quelled without incident, perhaps through distribution of the new legionary coinage.

This coin's beauty doesn't completely come across in the scan, but it is truly a great specimen for the type and for this particular legion. The obverse features a laureate portrait of Septimius facing right with the legend IMP CAE L SEP SEV PERT AVG. The reverse features a legionary eagle flanked by two standards with the legend LEG IIII FL / TR P COS. The coin is 16.5 mm in diameter with a weight of 3.46g. Reference is RIC 8.

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