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Septimius Severus
harasha
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Never thought too much about this emperor; thought he was a bit too violent for my taste. Recently, though, I have been reading a biography of Rabbi Judah the Prince and discovered a side of the emperor (and his genuinely violent homicidal son, Caracalla) that I had never come across, before. Doesn't take much to pique my numismatic curiosity. Came across this gorgeous provincial.
Honors flysis Income beezis Onches nobis Inob keesis
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The provincial issues, especially ones from the Thraco-Macedonian and Asia Minor regions (like this one from the Pisidian Antioch), can offer some really great portraits and can be much better value than their imperial counterparts. It's definitely an area that doesn't get as much attention.
Jeremy Bostwick
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Nice. How big is that?
I've only owned two of his coins over the years. This is one of them.
22.96 mm.
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For much of history, if you wanted to be the leader of a country you had to be an "SOB" or you ended up not making it or dead.
Severus brought order the empire after years of instability and unrest. The year 193 was the year of the five caesars. One of the low points was when Didius Julianus bought the emperor's chair when he was the high bidder in an auction for the position. @lordmarcovan took my thunder when he posted that denarius that is nicer than mine. I do have some other pieces from the year 193.
Pertinax was emperor from January to March, 1793. He tried to be a reformer and killed by the praetorian guard.
Didius Julianus was the high bidder in the auction for the crown and was killed for his trouble. He ruled from March to June.
Percennius Niger was popular and wanted to be emperor, but he was stationed in the western empire at the time that Pertinax was killed.
Clodius Albinus was aligned with Severus for a while. Then he saw that he was going to be out because Severus had sons who were ahead of him.
And here is my Septimius Severus
@BillJones - maybe I stole your thunder with my Septimius Severus denarius, but he’s downright common compared to the others you’ve posted. Despite having owned well over a hundred different emperors and empresses, I have never owned coins of Pertinax, Didius Julianus, OR Pescennius Niger. Those are some real toughies!