Exceptional Dea Caelestis Aureus

Sale: Triton X, Lot: 657. Estimate $15000.  Closing Date: Monday, 8 January 2007.  Sold For $15000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Septimius Severus. AD 193-211. AV Aureus (7.32 g, 12h). Rome mint. Struck AD 203. SEVERVS PIVS AVG, laureate head right / INDVLGENTIA AVGG, IN CARTH in exergue, Dea Caelestis riding lion right, holding thunderbolt in right hand and scepter in left; water gushing from rocks below. RIC IV 266; Calicó 2464; cf. BMCRE 335 note; Cohen 227. EF, light toning, minor edge mark. Rare. Wonderful reverse type.

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.