A silver denarius of Septimius Severus
A silver denarius of Septimius Severus, emperor from 193 - 211 AD. Minted in Rome, 198 AD. (The info, left, that it was minted in Syria is incorrect!). Severus was the first of the 'military emperors', realising that the key to power was in control of the army. Born in 146 AD in Leptis Magna, modern day Libya, to a middle class family. He rose to power and political office through a successful military career. He defeated 3 rivals to gain power and brought stability and security back to the Empire after a period of chaos. So, despite basically being a military dictator he was popular with the people. He died in York after a successful campaign massacring Scotsmen, on 4th Feb 211. The obverse has a portrait of Severus with his characteristically curly beard. The surrounding legend lists Severus' names and titles, L SEP SEVERVS PER AVG PM IMP X. L (Lucius) SEP (Septimius) SEVERVS (Severus) PER (Perpetuus - perpetual, for life) AVG (Augustus - Emperor, the title was assumed by all emperors after the 1st emperor, Augustus) PM (Pontifex Maximus, principal of priests, a title still born by the Pope.) IMP (Imperator - can mean simply leader of the Romans (Emperor), or as in this context, commander in chief of the army) X (10 - awarded 10 victory celebrations), so basically it means Lucius Septimius Severus, lifetime emperor, head priest and leader of the army with 10 'victories'. The Reverse shows Salus, feeding a snake coiled around an altar from a patera (offering bowl). Salus is the Roman personification of health, wellbeing and healing. She is the Roman version of the Greek Hygiena; granddaughter of Apollo, one of her jobs was to feed her father (Asklepios, god of healing) snakes. The snake wrapped around a staff or alter is symbolic of the practise of medicine. The inscription, SALVTI AVGG, simply means good health to the Emperors, or long live the Emperors. The second G in AVGG is the plural of AVG or Augustii rather than Augustus, Severus had elevated his son Caraca
Size: 8339px × 4198px
Photo credit: © Loolee / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: Yes
Keywords: ancient, cash, coinage, coins, collectable, collector, currency, denarii, denarius, emperor, empire, imperial, legal, metal, mint, minted, money, precious, roman, salus, septimus, severus, silver, tender
