Septimius Severus (193-211), with Julia Domna,... Lot 106

Septimius Severus (193-211), with Julia Domna, Caracalla and Geta - Aureus - Rome (203). Very good style and outstanding quality - The most beautiful copy known. Copy of the Italo Vecchi 8 sale of December 4, 1997, No. 294 and of the NAC 92 sale of May 23, 2016, No. 608 and of the Heritage 3051 sale of January 8, 2017, No. 34081 and of the Stack's Bowers sale of August 16, 2018, No. 20123. 7.26g - C. 4 - RIC IV 181b - Cal. 2590 FDC Exceptional - NGC GEM MS (5/5 and 5/5) fine style This remarkable coin depicts all four members of the imperial family, and may be the most attractive one in the series which celebrated the marriage of Caracalla to Plautilla in April AD 202, the return from Africa of the Severan dynasty, and the decennalia of the emperor in AD 203, which led to an enormous distribution of ten aurei each to some 200,000 recipients, the plebs frumentaria and the soldiers stationed in Rome: "On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of his coming to power Severus presented to the entire populace that received the grain dole and to the soldiers of the pretorian guard gold pieces equal in number to the years of his reign. He prided himself especially on this largesse, and, in fact, no emperor had ever before given so much to the whole population at once; the total amount spent for the purpose was two hundred million sesterces" (Cassius Dio LXXVII.1.1). When it was struck in the early AD 200s, the emperor's sons were still teenagers: the hatred which led, in AD 211, to the murder of Geta (dramatically related in Cassius Dio 78.2) had not yet shown itself; Severus hadn't yet pronounced his famous final instructions " Be harmonious (i.e. rule together as brothers), enrich the soldiers, and scorn all other men" (Cassius Dio LXXVII.15.2); and Julia Domna hadn't yet had to remind them that "Earth and sea, my children, you have found a way to divide, and, as you say, the Propontic Gulf separates the continents. But your mother, how would