| Harlan J. Berk, Ltd. > Buy or Bid Sale 227 | Auction date: 14 May 2024 |
| Lot number: 485 Price realized: This lot is for sale in an upcoming auction - Bid on this lot  | Show similar lots on CoinArchives Find similar lots in upcoming auctions on  |
| Lot description: Septimius Severus. Denarius; Septimius Severus; 193-211 AD, Rome, 206 AD, Denarius, BM-343, C-253 (60 Fr.), RIC-274 (R2). Obv: SEVERVS PIVS AVG Head laureate r. Rx: LAETITIA TEMPORVM The spina of the Circus Maximus decorated as a ship facing l., with the turning posts at its prow and stern, a sail mounted on the central obelisk, and the spina's other monuments visible in between; above the ship, four quadrigas racing l.; below, seven animals: an ostrich at l. and bear (indistinct on this specimen) at r.; between them a lion and a lioness chasing a wild ass and a panther attacking a bison. Rare: only three specimens in Reka Devnia hoard. This famous type commemorates the chariot races and animal hunt that took place on the seventh and final day of Severus' Saecular Games in 204 AD, as described in the inscriptional acts of those games which were found in Rome in the 1870s and 1930s, and also in the text of Dio Cassius, tacked on to his description of Severus' Decennalian Games of 202 AD by his Byzantine epitomator as we can now see. The games consisted of chariot races, indicated by the racing quadrigas in the coin type, and then a hunt of 700 beasts, 100 each of "lions, lionesses, panthers, bears, bisons, wild asses, ostriches", which were released in large groups from a receptacle shaped like a boat. As C. Clay was the first to observe, the seven kinds of animals named by both Dio and the inscriptional acts are also depicted in the coin type: on good specimens, especially the aureus BMC pl. 34.4, the ostrich and the bear are clear, the lion has a mane, the ass has long ears, the bison has horns and a hump. Two large felines remain, of which we may suppose that the one accompanying the lion is the lioness and the one attacking the bison is the panther.. aEF / gVF Estimate: 1100 USD |  |
