Julia Domna - Roman Empress Wife of Emperor Septimius Severus
193-211 A.D. -
Silver Denarius 18mm (3.2 grams) Rome mint: 196-211 A.D.
Reference: RIC 546 (Septimius Severus), S 6576
IVLIAAVGVSTA - Draped bust right.
CERERIFRVGIF - Ceres seated left, holding grain ears and torch.
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In
Roman mythology, Ceres is the
goddess of
growing plants (particularly
cereals) and of
motherly love. Ceres was worshipped in
Ancient Roman religion, and is today again worshipped in
Roman
Neopaganism. Ceres was usually equated with the Greek goddess
Demeter.
Etymology
Her name may derive from the hypothetical
Proto-Indo-European root "ker", meaning "to grow", which is also the root
for the words "create" and "increase". "Ceres" and "cereal" are
cognates.
Myth
Ceres was the daughter of
Saturn and Ops,
wife-sister of
Jupiter, mother of
Proserpina
by Jupiter and sister of
Juno,
Vesta,
Neptune and
Pluto. Works of art depicted Ceres conventionally with a
scepter, a
basket of flowers
and fruit, and a
garland made
of corn ears
(note that "corn" in this instance refers to
wheat,
barley, or some
other old world food grain, not to the new world food grain
maize, which is
called "corn" in the United States and some other areas of the
Western hemisphere).
Ceres was also patron of
Enna,
Sicily.
According to legend, she begged Jupiter that Sicily be placed in the heavens.
The result, because the island is triangular in shape, was the constellation
Triangulum,
an early name of which was Sicilia.
Ceres made up a trinity with
Liber and
Libera, who were two other agricultural gods. She also had twelve minor gods
who assisted her, and were in charge of specific aspects of farming: "Vervactor
who turns fallow land, Reparator who prepares fallow land, Imporcitor who plows
with wide furrows" (whose name comes from the Latin imporcare, to put
into furrows), "Insitor who sowed, Obarator who plowed the surface, Occator who
harrowed, Sarritor who weeded, Subruncinator who thinned out, Messor who
harvested, Conuector who carted, Conditor who stored, and Promitor who
distributed".[1]
Worship
The Romans adopted Ceres in
496 BC during a
devastating famine, when the
Sibylline books advised the adoption of her
Greek equivalent
Demeter,
along with
Kore (Persephone) and
Iacchus
(possibly
Dionysus). Ceres was personified and celebrated by women in secret rituals
at the festival of
Ambarvalia,
held during May. There was a
temple to Ceres
on the
Aventine Hill in
Rome and her official priest was called a flamen. Her primary festival was
the Cerealia
or Ludi Ceriales ("games of Ceres"), instituted in the
3rd
century BC and held annually on April 12 to April 19. The worship of Ceres
became particularly associated with the
plebeian classes, who dominated the grain trade. Little is known about the
rituals of Cerelean worship; one of the few customs which has been recorded was
the peculiar practice of tying lighted brands to the tails of foxes which were
then let loose in the
Circus Maximus. There was also an October festival dedicated to her when
women fasted and offered her the first grain of the harvest.
Legacy
The word
cereals derives
from Ceres, commemorating her association with edible grains. Statues of Ceres
top the domes of the
Missouri State Capitol and the
Vermont State House serving as a reminder of the importance of agriculture
in the states' economies and histories. There is also a statue of her on top of
the
Chicago Board of Trade Building, which conducts trading in agricultural
commodities.
The
dwarf
planet
Ceres (discovered 1801), is named after this goddess. And in turn, the
chemical element
cerium (discovered 1803) was named after the dwarf planet. A poem about
Ceres and humanity features in Dmitri's confession to his brother Alexei in
Dostoevsky's
The Brothers Karamazov, Part 1, Book 3, Chapter 3.
Ceres appears as a character in
William Shakespeare's play
The
Tempest (1611).
An aria in praise of Ceres is sung in Act 4 of the opera The
Trojans by
Hector Berlioz.
Contrary to what many think, the woman depicted on the right
on The New
Jersey state flag is actually Ceres, not
Prosperity.
Julia
Domna (unknown date[1]–217)
was a member of the
Severan dynasty of the
Roman
Empire. Empress and wife of
Roman
Emperor Lucius
Septimius Severus and mother of Emperors
Geta and
Caracalla, Julia was among the most important women ever to exercise power
behind the throne in the Roman Empire.
Family
background
Julia was of Syrian origin from the ancient city of
Emesa. Her
ancestors were Kings Priest of the famous temple of
Baal. The family
lost its kingdom to Rome but continued domination of the temple of Baal. The
family had an enormous wealth and was promoted to Roman senatorial aristocracy.
She was the youngest daughter of high-priest Gaius
Julius Bassianus and her eldest sister was
Julia
Maesa.
Reign
In the late 180s, Julia married future Emperor
Septimius Severus who himself was in part of
Punic background. The marriage proved to be a happy one and Severus
cherished his wife and her political opinions, since she was very well read and
keen on philosophy. Together, they had two sons, Lucius Septimius Bassianus (Caracalla)
in 186 and
Publius Septimius Geta in 189.
Civil
War
When Severus became emperor in 193 he had a civil war waiting
for him, against rivals such as
Pescennius Niger and
Clodius Albinus. Julia accompanied him in his campaigns in the East, an
uncommon event in a time when women were expected to wait in Rome for their
husbands. Nevertheless, she remained with the emperor and among the several
proofs of affection and favour are the minting of coins with her portrait and
the title mater castrorum (mother of the camp).
Julia now had complete power and ruled behind the Roman
Empire. Many early Romans disliked the fact of her ruling over the throne when
Septimius Severus was at war.
Controversy
and transition of power
As empress, Julia was often involved in intrigues and had
plenty of political enemies who accused her of treason and adultery. None of
these accusations were proven, Severus continued to favour his wife and insisted
on her company in the campaign against the
Britons that started in 208. When Severus died, in 211 in
York, Julia became
the mediator between their two sons.
Caracalla
and
Geta who were to rule as joint emperors, according to their father's wishes
expressed on his will. But the two young men were never fond of each other and
quarrelled frequently. Geta was murdered by Caracalla's soldiers in the same
year.
Caracalla was now sole emperor, but his relations with his
mother were difficult, as attested by several sources, probably due to his
involvement in Geta's murder. Nevertheless, Julia accompanied Caracalla in his
campaign against the
Parthian empire in 217. During this trip, Caracalla was assassinated and
succeeded (briefly) by
Macrinus.
On hearing about the rebellion, Julia chose to commit suicide. Her body was
brought to Rome and placed in the Sepulcrum C. et L. Caesaris (perhaps a
separate chamber in the
Mausoleum of Augustus). Later, however, both her bones and those of Geta
were transferred by her sister
Julia
Maesa to the
Mausoleum of Hadrian.[2]
She was later deified.
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