Julia Domna - Roman Empress Wife of Emperor Septimius Severus
193-211 A.D. -
Fourrée Silver Denarius 19mm (3.6 grams) Rome mint: 211-217 A.D.
Reference: RIC 390 (Caracalla), S 7108, C 230
IVLIAPIAFELIXAVG - Draped bust right.
VESTA - Vesta standing left, holding Palladium and scepter.
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Vesta was the
virgin goddess of the
hearth, home,
and family in
Roman religion. Although she is often mistaken as analogous to
Hestia in
Greek religion, she had a large role in Roman religion long before she
appeared in Greece. Vesta's presence was symbolized by the
sacred fire that burned at her hearth and temples. In
Greek and
Roman mythology, a
palladium
or palladion was an
image
of great antiquity on which the safety of a city was said to depend. "Palladium"
especially signified the wooden statue (xoanon)
of
Pallas Athena that
Odysseus
and Diomedes
stole from the
citadel of Troy
and which was later taken to the future site of
Rome by
Aeneas. The
Roman story is related in
Virgil's
Aeneid and
other works.
Nike (Victory) offers an egg to a snake entwined around a column
surmounted by the Trojan Palladium. (Marble
bas relief, Roman copy of the late 1st Century CE. After a
neo-Attic original of the Hellenistic era.)
A fourrée is a
coin, most often a
counterfeit, that is made from a base metal core that has been plated with a
precious metal to look like its solid metal counter part. The term is normally
applied to ancient silver plated coins such as the
Roman
denarius
and
Greek
drachma, but the term is also applied to other plated coins.
Cicero mentions that
M. Marius Gratidianus, a
praetor
during the 80s BC, was widely praised for developing tests to detect false
coins, and removing them from circulation. Gratidianus was killed under
Sulla, who introduced his own anti-forgery law (lex Cornelia de falsis),
that reintroduced serrated edges on precious metal coins, an anticounterfeiting
measure that had been tried earlier. Serrated denarii, or serrati, which
featured about 20 notched chisel mark on the edge of the coin, were produced to
demonstrate the integrity of the coin. This effort was in vain, as examples of
fourrée serrati attest.
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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