Roman Empire, Severus Alexander, AV Aureus

Roman Empire, Severus Alexander, AD 222 - 235, AV Aureus

NGC Strike: 5/5 Surfce 3/5

Obv.: Rome belorb. Bust r.
Rev.: Aequitas with scales and cornucopiae

Historical
Severus Alexander (b. 208 at Arqa in present-day Lebanon; † in March 235 near Mogontiacum, now Mainz). He was Roman emperor from 222 to 235.

His original name was Bassianus Alexianus.

In June 221, Alexander, who was not yet thirteen years old, was elevated to Caesar by his cousin, Emperor Elagabal, who was only four years his senior, and thus designated his successor. The following year, after Elagabal's assassination, he was able to take over the reign without any problems. Throughout his life he was under the dominating influence of his mother Julia Mamaea. She was the "real" ruler and also arranged his marriage. However, since she was unable to gain authority either among the capital's praetorians or in the army, her exercise of power was always precarious.

After a Persian war with heavy losses and an undecided outcome, the emperor had to rush to the Rhine to repel a Germanic invasion. There his unpopularity in the army became his undoing. He and his mother fell victim to a mutiny.

Alexander's death marked the end of the Severan dynasty.

The era of the soldier emperors began and with it the "imperial crisis of the 3rd century", a crisis-like intensification of the structural problems left behind by the Severans.