Severus Alexander, 222-235. Aureus (Gold, 21 mm, 6.43 g, 12 h), Rome, April 222. IMP C M AVR SEV ALEXAND AVG Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Severus Alexander to right, seen from behind. Rev. P M TR P COS P P Severus Alexander, laureate and togate, driving slow triumphal quadriga to left, holding olive branch in his right hand and scepter in his left. BMC 11. Cohen 225. Calicó 3087. RIC 16. Very rare and of great historical interest. Some minor scrapes on the obverse and with a few tiny marks, otherwise, good extremely fine.



When Julia Maesa recognized in 221 that the eccentric behavior of her grandson Elagabalus increasingly threatened the rule of her family, she began to groom another grandson, Bassianus Alexianus, the son of Julia Mamaea, as ruler. Elevated to the rank of Caesar by Elagabalus in June 221, the youthful Bassianus, aged merely 14, ascended to the throne as Marcus Aurelius Severus Alexander following the emperor's assassination in the spring of 222. His accession to power was celebrated with the present aureus, which depicts the young ruler as a togatus with a palm branch and a scepter in a quadriga. The depiction likely represents a processus consularis, a ceremonious procession tracing back to Republican times, whereby newly appointed Consuls were led from the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on the Capitoline Hill to the Roman Forum.