| Classical Numismatic Group > Triton XXVII | Auction date: 9 January 2024 |
| Lot number: 549 Price realized: 2,750 USD (Approx. 2,519 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | Show similar lots on CoinArchives Find similar lots in upcoming auctions on  |
| Lot description: EGYPT, Alexandria. Aquilia Severa. Augusta, AD 220-221 & 221-222. Billon Tetradrachm (23mm, 11.52 g, 12h). Dated RY 5 of Elagabalus (AD 221/2). IOYΛIA AKYΛIA CЄYHPA CЄB, draped bust right / Nike in galloping biga right; L Є (date) above. Köln 2381; Dattari (Savio) 4181 = RPC VI Online 10194.7 = Figari & Mosconi 1067 (this coin); K&G 58.14; Emmett 3019.5 (R4). Brown patina, obverse weakness, reverse sharply struck, small flan cracks. VF. Very rare. From the Dr. Thomas E. Beniak Collection. Ex Syracuse Collection (Classical Numismatic Group 100, 7 October 2015), lot 1786; Classical Numismatic Auctions VI (1 March 1989), lot 303; Gordon J. Dickie Collection (Empire Coins 7, 2 May 1987), lot 197; Giovanni Dattari Collection, no. 4181. The second of Elagabalus's three wives, Julia Aquilia Severa was a maiden from a good Roman family who had been selected to join the order of Vestal Virgins. Late in AD 220, she caught the eye of the emperor Varius Avitus Bassianus Antoninus, popularly known by the name of the exotic eastern sun god to which he served as High Priest, Elagabalus. Having conceived the scandalous idea of a union with a Vestal Virgin, the young emperor abruptly divorced the bride he'd only recently married, Julia Paula, and informed the Senate that a child begotten of a high priest of Elagabal and a priestess of Vesta could only be considered divine. Few in the Senate were likely moved by such an argument, but the emperor proceeded to marry the girl early in AD 221, causing widespread consternation and revulsion among the Roman populace. Oddly, the marriage seems to have been a happy one, and Aquilia seems to have been the only female with whom the flamboyant emperor enjoyed spending time. Aquilia was given the rank of Augusta, becoming the fourth woman to bear the title in the female-dominated regime. However, the true power behind the throne, Elagabalus' formidable grandmother Julia Maesa, saw the tide of public favor turning and forced her grandson to divorce Aquilia to marry a respectable matron, Annia Faustina, a descendant of Marcus Aurelius. The willful emperor tired of Faustina almost immediately and returned to Aquilia before the end of AD 221, a course of action which surely contributed to his downfall in March of AD 222. Aquilia Severa seems to have survived her husband's murder, but her subsequent career is unrecorded. Estimate: 500 USD |  |
