More than twenty years past over what became more than a simple hobby, here is a glimpse at an ever-growing collection.
Much more than coins, each and everyone of them is a piece of art, and a privileged witness to an era long gone bye.
Septimius Severus (193-211ad)
Denarius, Rome mint, 204 CE.
SEVERVS PIVS AVG, laureate head right / INDVLGENTIA AVGG, IN CARTH in ex, Dea Caelestis in elaborate headdress riding right on lion, holding thunderbolt & scepter; below, water gushing from rocks left. RSC 222.
(Ebay, Dionysos, 12.12.2011)
Dea Caelestis was the patron goddess of Roman Carthage. This coin clearly celebrates some water-related benificence of the Augusti to that city, perhaps the completion of an aqueduct. The other Augustus at the time was Caracalla, one of Septimius' sons, and similar coins were issued in his name.
Interestingly, after the death of Julia Domna, Septimius' wife, she was deified, and was worshipped in Carthage as Dea Caelestis.
Some versions of this coin show Dea Caelestis carrying a drum. A drum and lion would suggest Cybele, the Mother Goddess. It's not unusual for deities to have overlapping attributes and associations, and Cybele rides a lion on several coins. This particular depiction of the Mother Goddess riding a leaping lion is said to be based on a statue of Magna Mater on the roof of her shrine on the spina of the Circus Maximus in Rome. There is a Commodus reverse showing it, and the same figure appears on a coin of Julia Domna from Nikopolis. (From a topic on Forumancientcoins)
Denarius. 205ad, Rome mint.
Obv: SEVERVS PIVS AVG, laureate head right. Rev: P M TR P XIII COS III P P, Jupiter standing left holding thunderbolt & scepter, eagle at foot left.
Ebay.
Denarius 200-201ad, Rome mint.
Obv: SEVERVS PIUS AUG, laureate bust right. Rev: FVNDATOR PACIS, Severus, veiled, standing left with branch and book.
Ebay (Ebay.es: apoloniodetiro, June 2012)
Denarius. 201-210ad, Rome mint.
Obv: SEVERVS PIVS AVG, laureate head right. Rev: RESTITVTOR VRBIS, Roma seated left holding palladium & spear, round sheild below.
Ebay.
