Julia Domna, wife of Septimius Severus. Aureus 196-211, AV 20 mm, 7.40 g. IVLIA – AVGVSTA Draped bust of Julia Domna r. Rev. ANTONINVS AVG – PONT TR P IIII Laureate and draped bust of Caracalla r. C –. BMC p. 158, 9 note. de Sartiges 257 (this coin). RIC S. Severus 543. Calicò 2654 (these dies). Of the highest rarity, possibly the finest of very few specimens known. Two superb portraits perfectly struck and centred on a full flan. A perfect FdcGraded MS*, Strike: 5/5, Surface: 5/5, NGC photo certificate number 8567765-001 Ex Ars Classica XVIII, 1938, de Sartiges, 331; Maison Palombo 20, 2022, 65 and NGSA 16, 2022, 64 sales. While serving as a commander in the Roman army in AD 187, Septimius Severus married Julia Domna, the daughter of one of the hereditary priests of El-Gabal, the sun god of Emesa, in response to an oracle foretelling his future rise to imperial power. Julia Domna had a warm relationship with her husband and bore him two sons, L. Septimius Bassianus (popularly known as Caracalla) and P. Septimius Geta. She also regularly accompanied Severus on his various military campaigns. Julia Domna was with him even during the tumultuous Year of the Five Emperors (AD 193), which ended when Severus assumed power in Rome and fulfilled the promise of the oracle. She received the title of Augusta at the same time that Severus became Augustus, and in AD 195, she was honored as Mater Castrorum (“Mother of the Camps”) in recognition of her frequent presence with Severus in the field. This remarkable aureus features a beautiful obverse portrait of Julia Domna as Augusta and a reverse type depicting Caracalla after he was appointed co-Augustus with his father on 28 January 198, at the age of nine. Portraits of Severus’ wife and children were a staple of Severan coinage, used to advertise the family as a new, stable dynasty that would provide security for Rome and the empire after years of conflict. What could look better to people fearful of the return of civil war than a strong emperor with a dutiful wife and sons trained and prepared to take over and rule when their father died? Unfortunately, the strong united family image created by this and other related Severan coins was illusory. Over time, Caracalla and his younger brother Geta grew to hate each other because of the disparity in power their father allotted them, and Julia Domna was forced to spend her time and energy trying to make peace between them. While Severus lived, she was able to hold the family together, but after his death in AD 211, everything fell apart. While overseeing a supposed reconciliation between her sons, members of the praetorian guard burst in and murdered Geta at the order of Caracalla. Despite this bloody trauma, Julia Domna went on to serve in the imperial chancery under Caracalla, but after he was assassinated in AD 217 she took her own life in despair. Please find here the video of the coin