Severus Alexander - Roman Emperor: 222-235 A.D. -
Bronze 20mm (4.9 grams) from the Roman provincial city of Nicaea in Bithynia
222-235 A.D.
Reference: RecGen 617 -
M AVP CEV AΛEΞANΔPOC AVΓ, laureate, draped & cuirassed bust right.
NIKAIE-ΩN between 3 standards.
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İznik (which derives from the former
Greek name
Νίκαια, Nicaea) is a city in
Turkey which is
primarily known as the site of the
First and
Second Councils of Nicaea, the first and seventh
Ecumenical councils in the early history of the
Christian church, the
Nicene
Creed, and as the capital city of the
Empire of Nicaea. It served as the interim capital city of the
Byzantine Empire between 1204 and 1261, following the
Fourth Crusade in 1204, until the recapture of
Constantinople by the Byzantines in 1261.
The city lies in a fertile basin at the eastern end of
Lake İznik,
bounded by ranges of hills to the north and south. It is situated with its west
wall rising from the lake itself, providing both protection from siege from that
direction, as well as a source of supplies which would be difficult to cut off.
The lake is large enough that it cannot be blockaded from the land easily, and
the city was large enough to make any attempt to reach the harbour from
shore-based siege weapons very difficult.
The city is surrounded on all sides by 5 km (3 mi) of walls about 10 m
(33 ft) high. These are in turn surrounded by a double ditch on the land
portions, and also include over 100 towers in various locations. Large gates on
the three landbound sides of the walls provide the only entrance to the city.
Today the walls are pierced in many places for roads, but much of the early
work survives and as a result it is a major tourist destination. The town has a
population of about 15,000. It has been a district center of
Bursa Province since 1930. It was in the district of
Kocaeli
between 1923-1927 and was a township of
Yenişehir
(bounded to Bilecik before 1926) district between 1927-1930.
Marcus
Aurelius Severus Alexander (October 1, 208–March 18, 235 AD), commonly
called Alexander Severus, was the last
Roman emperor (11 March 222–235) of the
Severan dynasty. Alexander Severus succeeded his cousin,
Elagabalus
upon the latter's assassination in 222 AD, and was ultimately assassinated
himself, marking the
epoch event for the
Crisis of the Third Century—nearly fifty years of disorder, Roman civil
wars, economic chaos, regional rebellions, and external threats that brought the
Empire to near-collapse.
Alexander Severus was the
heir
apparent to his cousin, the eighteen-year-old Emperor who had been murdered
along with his mother by his own guards—and as a mark of contempt, had their
remains cast into the
Tiber river. He and his cousin were both grandsons of the influential and
powerful
Julia Maesa, who had arranged for Elagabalus' acclamation as Emperor by the
famed
Third Gallic Legion.
A rumor of Alexander's death circulated, triggering the assassination of
Elagabalus.
Alexander's reign was marked by troubles. In military conflict against the
rising
Sassanid Empire, there are mixed accounts, though the Sassanid threat was
checked. However, when campaigning against
Germanic tribes of
Germania,
Alexander Severus apparently alienated his legions by trying diplomacy and
bribery, and they assassinated him.
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