Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
Æ34 - Septimius Severus ΕΠΙ ϹΤΡ ΚΛ ΑΡΙϹΤΟΦΑΝΟΥϹ, ϹΜΥΡΝΑΙΩΝ
| Issuer | Smyrna (Conventus of Smyrna) |
|---|---|
| Year | 193-211 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Round (irregular) |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust of Septimius Severus facing right, seen from the rear, rendered in the provincial Greek style characteristic of the Smyrnaean mint. The emperor's cuirass is visible over the draped paludamentum. The obverse legend in Greek characters encircles the bust, identifying the emperor by his full titulature. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | ΑΥΤΟ Κ Λ ϹΕΠ ϹΕΟΥΗΡΟϹ ΠΕΡΤΙΝΑ (Translation: Emperor Caesar Lucius Septimius Severus Pertinax) |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Smyrna's civic coinage under Septimius Severus names the local strategos Claudius Aristophanes in the inscription — a man whose tenure we can only pin to this administrative period through the coins themselves. Provincial bronzes of this size from Smyrna were struck on civic authority, not imperial, meaning the city negotiated its own minting rights and bore the cost of production locally.
The strategos title here reflects the Hellenized administrative structure Rome permitted in the Greek East, where cities retained the vocabulary of their classical institutions long after losing the substance.