Rare Dynastic Issue
JUDAEA, Aelia Capitolina (Jerusalem). Septimius Severus, with Julia Domna, Caracalla, and Geta. 193-211 CE. Æ (30mm, 23.16 g, 12h). Struck AD 209/10. [IMP CAES LV SEPT SEV E T I]VLI DOM ΛVC, jugate busts of Septimius Severus, laureate, draped, and cuirassed, seen from behind, and Julia Domna, draped and wearing crescent, right / [ΛNTONINVS] ΛVC [GETΛ CΛES], [CO]L ΛE CΛ[P] in exergue, Caracalla and Geta, togate, standing vis-à-vis, clasping right hands. Cf. Meshorer,
Aelia 81; cf. Kadman 87; SNG ANS –; cf. Sofaer 74; cf. Rosenberger 48 (all refs for type). VF, earthen black-green patina. Exceptional for issue and rare.
Ex Dr. Patrick Tan Collection.
Jerusalem, refounded as a Roman military colony by Hadrian in AD 135, was renamed Colonia Aelia Capitolina. According to Cassius Dio (76.13), Septimius Severus, his wife Julia Domna, and their sons Antoninus (Caracalla) and Geta made an official state visit to the city in AD 201. The event was commemorated by the issuance of this rare large bronze coin. An inscription found near the Western Wall proclaimed that the city had been bestowed the honorary title “Commodiana Pia Felix.” The choice to honor the late, unlamented Commodus seems an odd one; however Severus had in AD 197 “retroactively adopted” himself as the son of Marcus Aurelius, making the now deified Commodus his brother.
