335, Lot: 509. Estimate $200. Sold for $130. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee. |
|
Septimius Severus. AD 193-211. AR Denarius (19mm, 3.36 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck circa AD 210-211. Laureate head right / VICTORIAE BRIT, Victory advancing right, holding wreath and palm frond. RIC IV 332; RSC 727. Good VF, toned.
Septimius Severus waged his last military campaign against the Caledonians on the northern border of Britain, where he himself died at his campaign headquarters at York in February AD 211. Among those who accompanied him on the campaign were his wife Julia Domna, as well as his sons Caracalla and Geta. Septimius and Caracalla commanded this campaign, with Caracalla becoming sole commander after his father had fallen ill. The two often did not agree on matters of strategy and we are told that at one point that Caracalla became so enraged that he appeared ready to stab his father in the back before the entire army. Upon Severus' death at York in February AD 211, Caracalla made peace with the Caledonians on less-than-favorable terms, which required the Romans retreat to the agreed border of Hadrian’s Wall.