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  15. Winning Losing Won Lost Watching Available in aftersale  

    Emesa mint

    E47, Lot 114:

    The Severans. Septimius Severus. A.D. 193-211. AR denarius. 2.44 gm. 17 mm. Emesa mint. Struck A.D. 194. His laureate head right; IMP CAE L SEP SEV PERT AVG COS II / Victory advancing left, holding wreath and palm; VICT AVG. RIC IV.1 424. RSC 675a. As struck; hoard cleaned; bright; some weakness and surface damage; sharp strike; exciting style reflective of campaigning on the frontier.

     

    Emesa was a caravan city in northwestern Syria, the hometown of Julia Domna, wife of Septimius Severus. Her family connected them to the priestly ruling caste of that city, greatly benefitting the Severan dynasty. Unlike many cities in the East, Emesa remained loyal to Severus during the destructive civil war with Pescennius Niger, who was governor of Roman Syria before being acclaimed by his soldiers as Augustus in AD 193. Severus sent his armies eastward and engaged Niger in a series of battles starting in the fall of AD 193, culminating with a decisive victory at Issus in May of AD 194. Niger was hunted down and killed. Severus and Julia Domna then undertook a triumphant tour of the eastern cities, probably arriving in Emesa in mid-194.

    During Severus’ eastern campaigns, mint strictures were loosened, allowing local moneyers, who would earlier have been considered counterfeiters, to take up the slack for the limited material coming from official mints. This coin, minted in 194 during his eastern campaigns, appears to be such an example, with its marvelously eastern portraiture and style, and clearly exemplifying the vigorous and spontaneous somewhat slipshod style strike reflective of campaigning on the frontier.

    After defeating Pescennius Niger and Clodius Albinus and becoming emperor, Severus — arguably the consummate soldier-emperor — adopted a military style government and paid little attention to the Senate. During his rule he fought in almost every part of the Roman Empire, from England to Syria.
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  28. Winning Losing Won Lost Watching Available in aftersale  
    Sacred stone of Emesa
    A43, Lot 144:

    Elagabalus. A.D. 218-222. AR denarius. 3.18 gm. 19 mm. Uncertain eastern mint. Struck A.D. 218-219. His laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right; ANTONINVS PIVS FEL AVG / Slow quadriga right, bearing the sacred stone of Emesa on which is an eagle, surrounded by four parasols; SANCT DEO SOLI around, ELAGABAL in exergue. RIC IV.2 195 (R2). RSC 268. Good Very Fine; crisp and attractive with good surfaces and slightly lustrous tone. Rare.

    Ex Harlan Berk BBS 139 (4 August 2004) lot 339.

    Elagabalus was 14 years old when he inherited the role of high priest of the sun god El-Gabal at Emesa in Syria. Following his unlikely rise to power in A.D. 218 he brought the cult's baetyl (a sacred conical cult stone, likely a meteorite) with him to Rome. Dedicated to spreading his cult among the Romans, he would make senators watch as he danced around the altar to drums and cymbals. He had some success, and the Syrian deity combined with the Roman sun god Sol to be known as Sol Invictus ("the unconquered sun").

    At the summer solstice he would parade the stone through the city: "a six horse chariot carried the divinity, the horses huge and flawlessly white, with expensive gold fittings and rich ornaments. No one held the reins, and no one rode in the chariot; the vehicle was escorted as if the god himself were the charioteer. Elagabalus ran backward in front of the chariot, facing the god and holding the horses' reins. He made the whole journey in this reverse fashion, looking up into the face of his god" (Herodian). That chariot, complete with baetyl, is depicted on the reverse of this piece.
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