207, Lot: 374. Estimate $100. Sold for $185. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Septimius Severus. AD 193-211. AR Denarius (19mm, 3,12 g, 1h). Rome mint. Struck early AD 204. Laureate head right / INDVLGEN TIA AV GG, IN CARTH in exergue, the Dea Caelestis, holding thunderbolt and scepter, seated facing on lion galloping right over rushing waters. RIC IV 266; RSC 222. EF, light porosity.

Septimius made an expedition to North Africa in AD 202, and remained there into AD 203. During this time, he led a campaign against the tribes who raided the province from the deserts to the south and east, and also undertook a number of building projects to improve both the local infrastructure as well as the overall prestige of the various cities. One of the major projects was the construction of an important aqueduct in Carthage. Dea Caelestis was the patron goddess of Carthage, and while this issue was certainly struck in commemoration of Septimius' general works there, the particular iconography of her riding on a lion above a stream of water flowing from a rocky source may have been chosen as a specific reference to the aqueduct.

There are two varieties of this type with Dea Caelestis holding a thunderbolt and scepter: one with the deity’s head facing, the other with the head to right. Neither RIC nor RSC differentiate between the two. Interestingly, the direction of the deity's head appears to have a chronological significance. An examination of the dated bronze and gold reveals that the examples with the facing head were struck late in 203 AD. Those with the head to the right were struck early in 204 AD.