ROMAN EMPIRE, Severus Alexander, 222-235 AD, silver, denarius

Description

Severus Alexander was about 12 years old when he was acclaimed Emperor by the Praetorian Guards who had just murdered his cousin, Elagabalus. He ruled for 13 years. Most of the business of ruling was done by his grandmother, Julia Maesa. The times required close attention to military affairs, he wasn’t up to it. Out on campaign, accompanied by his mother, she thinking about buying off the enemy, son and mother were murdered by the troops.

The Roman Empire was a system of theoretically constrained autocracy. The Emperor was supposed to be accepted by the Senate, which was supposed to be representing the people. It became difficult to restrain the autocrats. The succession problem was never solved. Many Emperors were murdered. In the 4th century AD the Empire was split for administrative purposes into eastern and western branches, the west devolving into local kingdoms in the 5th century AD, while the eastern branch continued as what we call the Byzantine Empire until 1453.

Ancient Coins includes Greek and Roman coins and those of neighbors and successors, geographically from Morocco and Spain all the way to Afghanistan. Date ranges for these begin with the world’s earliest coins of the 8th century BC to, in an extreme case, the end of Byzantine Empire, 1453 AD.