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Pentassarion - Elagabalus and Julia Maesa YΠ IOYΛ ANT CΕΛEYKOY MAPKIANOΠΟΛITΩN, Marcianopolis
| Issuer | Marcianopolis |
|---|---|
| Year | 218-222 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Pentassaria (5⁄16) |
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| Obverse description | Confronted busts of Elagabalus and Julia Maesa facing one another, Elagabalus to the left depicted as a laureate and draped young emperor, Julia Maesa to the right shown with a diademed and draped bust. The two portraits are rendered face-to-face in the characteristic Marcianopolitan provincial style. A circular Greek legend surrounds the paired effigies within a beaded border, reading AYT K M AYP ANTONEINOC AYΓ IOYΛIA MAICA AYΓ, identifying both imperial personages by their titles and names. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Greek |
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| Additional information |
Marcianopolis, founded by Trajan and named for his sister Marciana, was one of the most prolific provincial minting cities of the Severan period. This facing-bust type — pairing the emperor with a senior female member of the dynasty — was a deliberate format used at Marcianopolis to signal dynastic legitimacy, particularly useful under Elagabalus, whose claim to the throne rested entirely on his alleged (and likely fabricated) descent from Caracalla. Julia Maesa, his grandmother, engineered the whole succession from her base in Syria.
The magistrate Iulius Antonius Seleucus is documented across multiple issues from this reign, giving die students a useful anchor for sequencing the city's output in this narrow four-year window.