Julia Mammaea - Roman Empress wife of Emperor Severus
Alexander 222-235 A.D. -
Bronze 18mm (4.28 grams) Nicaea mint: 222-235 A.D.
Reference: SNGCop 514
IOVΛIA MAMAIA AVΓ
- Draped bust right.
NIKAIE-ΩN between 3 standards.
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The place is said to have been colonized by
Bottiaeans,
and to have originally borne the name of Ancore (Steph.
B. s. v.) or Helicore (Geogr. Min. p. 40, ed. Hudson); but it was
subsequently destroyed by the
Mysians. A
few years after the death of
Alexander the Great,
Macedonian king
Antigonus — who had taken control of much of
Asia Minor upon the death of Alexander (under whom Antigonus had served as a
general) — probably after his victory over
Eumenes, in
316 BC, rebuilt the town, and called it, after himself, Antigoneia (Greek:
Αντιγόνεια). (Steph. B. l. c.; Eustath. ad
Horn. II. ii. 863) Several other of Alexander's generals (known together as the
Diadochi
(Latin; original Greek
Διάδοχοι/Diadokhoi
"successors")) later conspired to remove Antigonus, and after defeating him the
area was given to
Thessalian
general
Lysimachus (Lysimakhos) (circa 355 BC-281 BC) in 301 BC as his share
of the lands. He renamed it Nicaea (Greek:
Νίκαια, also
transliterated as Nikaia or Nicæa; see also
List of traditional Greek place names), in tribute to his wife Nicaea, a
daughter of
Antipater. (Steph. B., Eustath., Strab., ll. cc.) According to another
account (Memnon, ap. Phot. Cod. 224. p. 233, ed. Bekker), Nicaea was founded by
men from
Nicaea near
Thermopylae, who had served in the army of Alexander the Great. The town was
built with great regularity, in the form of a square, measuring 16 stadia in
circumference; it had four gates, and all its streets intersected one another at
right angles, so that from a monument in the centre all the four gates could be
seen. (Strabo
xii. pp. 565 et seq.) This monument stood in the gymnasium, which was
destroyed by fire, but was restored with increased magnificence by the
younger Pliny (Epist. x. 48), when he was governor of
Bithynia.
The city was built on an important crossroads between
Galatia and
Phrygia, and
thus saw steady trade. Soon after the time of Lysimachus, Nicaea became a city
of great importance, and the kings of Bithynia, whose era begins in 288 BC with
Zipoetes, often resided at Nicaea. It has already been mentioned that in the
time of Strabo it is called the metropolis of Bithynia, an honour which is also
assigned to it on some coins, though in later times it was enjoyed by
Nicomedia.
The two cities, in fact, kept up a long and vehement dispute about the
precedence, and the 38th oration of
Dio
Chrysostomus was expressly composed to settle the dispute. From this
oration, it appears that Nicomedia alone had a right to the title of metropolis,
but both were the first cities of the country.
The younger Pliny makes frequent mention of Nicaea and its public buildings,
which he undertook to restore when governor of Bithynia. (Epist. x. 40, 48,
etc.) It was the birthplace of the astronomer
Hipparchus
(ca. 194 BC), the mathematician and astronomer
Sporus (ca. 240) and the historian
Dio Cassius (ca. 165).[1]
It was the death-place of the comedian
Philistion. The numerous coins of Nicaea which still exist attest the
interest taken in the city by the emperors, as well as its attachment to the
rulers; many of them commemorate great festivals celebrated there in honour of
gods and emperors, as Olympia, Isthmia, Dionysia, Pythia, Commodia, Severia,
Philadelphia, etc. Throughout the imperial period, Nicaea remained an important
town; for its situation was particularly favourable, being only 40 km (25 mi)
distant from Prusa
(Pliny
v. 32), and 70 km (43 mi) from
Constantinople. (It.
Ant. p. 141.) When Constantinople became the capital of the
Eastern Empire, Nicaea did not lose in importance; for its present walls,
which were erected during the last period of the Empire, enclose a much greater
space than that ascribed to the place in the time of Strabo. Much of the
existing architecture and defensive works date to this time, early 300s.
Nicaea suffered much from earthquakes in 358, 362 and 368; after the last of
which, it was restored by the emperor
Valens. During
the Middle Ages it was for a long time a strong bulwark of the
Byzantine emperors against the
Turks.
Nicaea
in early Christianity
In the reign of
Constantine, 325, the celebrated
First Council of Nicaea was held there against the
Arian
heresy, and the
prelates there defined more clearly the concept of the
Trinity and
drew up the
Nicene
Creed. The
doctrine of the Trinity was finalized at the Council of Constantinople in
381 AD which expressly included the Holy Ghost as equal to the Father and the
Son. The first Nicene Council was probably held in what would become the now
ruined mosque of Orchan. The church of Hagia Sophia was built by
Justinian
I in the middle of the city in the 6th century (modelled after the larger
Hagia
Sophia in Constantinople), and it was there that the
Second Council of Nicaea met in 787 to discuss the issues of
iconography.
Julia
Avita Mamaea (14 or 29 August after 180–235) was the second daughter of
Julia
Maesa, a powerful
Roman woman of
Syrian Arab
origin and Syrian noble
Julius Avitus. She was a niece of empress
Julia
Domna and
emperor
Septimius Severus and sister of
Julia Soaemias. She was born and raised in
Emesa (modern
Homs, Syria).
Julia's first husband was a former consul (whose name is unknown) who died.
Julia married as her second husband Syrian
Promagistrate
Marcus Julius Gessius Marcianus. Julia bore Marcianus two children, a
daughter called Theoclia (little is known of her) and a son, Marcus Julius
Gessius Bassianus Alexianus, later emperor
Alexander Severus. Unlike her sister, Julia Mamaea was reported to be a
virtuous woman, never involved in scandals.
As a member of the Imperial Roman family, she watched closely the death of
her cousin
Caracalla and the ascent to power of her nephew
Elagabalus,
the oldest grandson of Julia Maesa and her choice to the throne. Eventually
Elagabalus and his mother Julia Soaemias proved incompetent rulers and favour
fell on Alexander, Julia's son. He became emperor in 222, following Elagabalus'
murder by the
Praetorian Guard. Julia and her mother became regents in the name of
Alexander, then 14 years old. Upon adulthood, Alexander confirmed his esteem for
his mother and named her consors imperii (imperial consort). It was in
this condition that she accompanied her son in his campaigns: a custom started
with
Julia Domna. Thus she travelled to the East, for the campaign against
Parthia and
to the Germania provinces. Julia Mamaea was with Alexander in Moguntiacum
(modern Mainz),
capital of
Germania Superior, when he was assassinated by his troops. She suffered the
same fate.
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