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SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS 193AD Ancient Roman Coin TYCHE LUCK Fortuna Prosperity i20321

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    Description

    Item:
    i20321
    Authentic Ancient Coin of:
    Septimius Severus - Roman Emperor: 193-211 A.D. -
    Bronze 21mm (5.95 grams) of Marcianopolis in Moesia Inferior
    AV
    Λ

    ПT
    CЄVHPO, laureate draped and cuirassed bust right.
    MAPKIANOΠΟΛΙΤΩΝ, Tyche standing left holding patera
    and cornucopia.
    You are bidding on the exact item pictured, provided with a Certificate of Authenticity and Lifetime Guarantee of Authenticity.
    Tyche
    (pronounced Too-kee; Greek for luck; the Roman equivalent was Fortuna) was the presiding tutelary deity that governed the fortune and prosperity of a city, its destiny. Increasingly during the Hellenistic period, cities had their own specific iconic version of Tyche, wearing a mural crown (a crown like the walls of the city).
    Fortuna
    (
    Latin
    :
    Fortūna
    , equivalent to the
    Greek
    goddess
    Tyche
    ) was the goddess of fortune and
    personification
    of
    luck
    in
    Roman religion
    . She might bring good luck or bad: she could be represented as veiled and blind, as in modern depictions of
    Justice
    , and came to represent life's capriciousness. She was also a goddess of
    fate
    : as
    Atrox Fortuna
    , she claimed the young lives of the
    princeps
    Augustus
    ' grandsons
    Gaius
    and
    Lucius
    , prospective heirs to the Empire.
    Her father was said to be Jupiter and like him, she could also be bountiful . As
    Annonaria
    she protected grain supplies. June 11 was sacred to her: on June 24 she was given cult at the festival of
    Fors Fortuna
    .
    Cult
    Fortuna and Pontos
    Fortuna's Roman cult was variously attributed to
    Servius Tullius
    – whose exceptional good fortune suggested their sexual intimacy – and to
    Ancus Marcius
    . The two earliest temples mentioned in Roman Calendars were outside the city, on the right bank of the Tiber (in Italian
    Trastevere
    ). The first temple dedicated to Fors was attributed to the Etruscan Servius Tullius, while the second is known to have been built in 293 BC as the fulfilment of a Roman promise made during later
    Etruscan wars
    [6]
    The date of dedication of her temples was 24 June, or Midsummer’s Day, when celebrants from Rome annually floated to the temples downstream from the city. After undisclosed rituals they then rowed back, garlanded and inebriated.
    [7]
    Also Fortuna had a temple at the
    Forum Boarium
    . Here Fortuna was twinned with the cult of
    Mater Matuta
    (the goddesses shared a festival on 11 June), and the paired temples have been revealed in the excavation beside the church of
    Sant'Omobono
    : the cults are indeed archaic in date.
    [8]
    Fortuna Primigenia of
    Praeneste
    was adopted by Romans at the end of 3rd BC in an important cult of
    Fortuna Publica Populi Romani
    (the
    Official Good Luck of the Roman People
    ) on the
    Quirinalis
    outside the
    Porta Collina
    .
    [9]
    No temple at Rome, however, rivalled the magnificence of the Praenestine sanctuary.
    Fortuna lightly balances the
    orb
    of sovereignty between thumb and finger in a Dutch painting of
    ca
    1530
    (
    Musée des Beaux-Arts de Strasbourg
    )
    Fortuna's identity as personification of chance events was closely tied to
    virtus
    (strength of character). Public officials who lacked virtues invited ill-fortune on themselves and Rome:
    Sallust
    uses the infamous
    Catiline
    as illustration – "Truly, when in the place of work, idleness, in place of the
    spirit of measure and equity
    , caprice and pride invade, fortune is changed just as with morality".
    An
    oracle
    at the
    Temple of Fortuna Primigena
    in
    Praeneste
    used a form of divination in which a small boy picked out one of various futures that were written on
    oak
    rods. Cults to Fortuna in her many forms are attested throughout the Roman world. Dedications have been found to
    Fortuna Dubia
    (doubtful fortune),
    Fortuna Brevis
    (fickle or wayward fortune) and
    Fortuna Mala
    (bad fortune).
    She is found in a variety of domestic and personal contexts. During the early Empire, an amulet from the
    House of Menander
    in
    Pompeii
    links her to the Egyptian goddess
    Isis
    , as Isis-Fortuna.
    [11]
    She is functionally related to the God
    Bonus Eventus
    ,
    [12]
    who is often represented as her counterpart: both appear on
    amulets
    and intaglio
    engraved gems
    across the Roman world.
    Her name seems to derive from
    Vortumna
    (she who revolves the year).
    [
    citation
    needed
    ]
    The earliest reference to
    the Wheel of Fortune
    , emblematic of the endless changes in life between prosperity and disaster, is from 55 BC. In
    Seneca
    's tragedy
    Agamemnon
    , a chorus addresses Fortuna in terms that would remain almost proverbial, and in a high heroic ranting mode that Renaissance writers would emulate:
    "O Fortune, who dost bestow the throne’s high boon with mocking hand, in dangerous and doubtful state thou settest the too exalted. Never have sceptres obtained calm peace or certain tenure; care on care weighs them down, and ever do fresh storms vex their souls. ...great kingdoms sink of their own weight, and Fortune gives way ‘neath the burden of herself. Sails swollen with favouring breezes fear blasts too strongly theirs; the tower which rears its head to the very clouds is beaten by rainy
    Auster
    .... Whatever Fortune has raised on high, she lifts but to bring low. Modest estate has longer life; then happy he whoe’er, content with the common lot, with safe breeze hugs the shore, and, fearing to trust his skiff to the wider sea, with unambitious oar keeps close to land."
    Ovid
    's description is typical of Roman representations: in a letter from exile
    he reflects ruefully on the "goddess who admits by her unsteady wheel her own fickleness; she always has its apex beneath her swaying foot."
    Middle Ages
    Fortuna did not disappear from the popular imagination with the ascendancy of Christianity by any means.
    Saint Augustine
    took a stand against her continuing presence, in the
    City of God
    : "How, therefore, is she good, who without discernment comes to both the good and to the bad? ...It profits one nothing to worship her if she is truly
    fortune
    ... let the bad worship her...this supposed deity". In the 6th century, the
    Consolation of Philosophy
    , by statesman and philosopher
    Boethius
    , written while he faced execution, reflected the Christian theology of
    casus
    , that the apparently random and often ruinous turns of Fortune's Wheel are in fact both inevitable and providential, that even the most coincidental events are part of God's hidden plan which one should not resist or try to change. Fortuna, then, was a servant of God,
    [18]
    and events, individual decisions, the
    influence of the stars
    were all merely vehicles of Divine Will. In succeeding generations Boethius'
    Consolation
    was required reading for scholars and students. Fortune crept back in to popular acceptance, with a new iconographic trait, "two-faced Fortune",
    Fortuna bifrons
    ; such depictions continue into the 15th century.
    Albrecht Dürer
    's engraving of
    Fortuna
    , ca 1502
    The ubiquitous image of
    the Wheel of Fortune
    found throughout the Middle Ages and beyond was a direct legacy of the second book of Boethius's
    Consolation
    . The Wheel appears in many renditions from tiny miniatures in
    manuscripts
    to huge stained glass windows in cathedrals, such as at
    Amiens
    . Lady Fortune is usually represented as larger than life to underscore her importance. The wheel characteristically has four shelves, or stages of life, with four human figures, usually labeled on the left
    regnabo
    (I shall reign), on the top
    regno
    (I reign) and is usually crowned, descending on the right
    regnavi
    (I have reigned) and the lowly figure on the bottom is marked
    sum sine regno
    (I have no kingdom). Medieval representations of Fortune emphasize her duality and instability, such as two faces side by side like
    Janus
    ; one face smiling the other frowning; half the face white the other black; she may be blindfolded but without scales, blind to justice. She was associated with the
    cornucopia
    , ship's rudder, the ball and the wheel. The cornucopia is where plenty flows from, the Helmsman's rudder steers fate, the globe symbolizes chance (who gets good or bad luck), and the wheel symbolizes that luck, good or bad, never lasts.
    Fortune would have many influences in cultural works throughout the Middle Ages. In
    Le Roman de la Rose
    , Fortune frustrates the hopes of a lover who has been helped by a personified character "Reason". In Dante's
    Inferno
    (vii.67-96)
    Virgil
    explains the nature of Fortune, both a devil and a ministering angel, subservient to God.
    Boccaccio
    's
    De Casibus Virorum Illustrium
    ("The Fortunes of Famous Men"), used by
    John Lydgate
    to compose his
    Fall of Princes
    , tells of many where the turn of Fortune's wheel brought those most high to disaster, and Boccaccio essay
    De remedii dell'una e dell'altra Fortuna
    , depends upon Boethius for the double nature of Fortuna. Fortune makes her appearance in
    Carmina Burana
    (see image). The Christianized Lady Fortune is not autonomous: illustrations for Boccaccio's
    Remedii
    show Fortuna enthroned in a triumphal car with reins that lead to heaven,
    [20]
    and appears in chapter 25 of Machiavelli's
    The Prince
    , in which he says Fortune only rules one half of men's fate, the other half being of their own will. Machiavelli reminds the reader that Fortune is a woman, that she favours a strong, or even violent hand, and that she favours the more aggressive and bold young man than a timid elder. Even
    Shakespeare
    was no stranger to Lady Fortune:
    When in disgrace with Fortune and men's eyes
    I all alone beweep my outcast state ...

    Sonnet 29
    Pars Fortuna in Astrology
    llustration by Al-Biruni (973-1048) of different phases of the moon, from the Persian
    Kitab al-tafhim
    In
    Astrology
    the term ‘Pars Fortuna’ represents a mathematical point in the
    zodiac
    derived by the longitudinal positions of the
    Sun
    ,
    Moon
    and
    Ascendant
    (Rising sign) in the birth chart of an individual. It represents an especially beneficial point in the horoscopic chart. In
    Arabic
    Astrology
    , this point is called
    Arabian Parts
    .
    The procedure followed for fixing one’s
    Pars Fortuna
    in ancient and traditional astrology depended on the time of birth, viz., during daylight or night time (whether the Sun was above or below the
    horizon
    ). In modern
    western astrology
    the day time formula only was used for many years, but with more knowledge of ancient astrology, the two calculation methods are now often used.
    The formula for calculating the day time Part of Fortune (PF) is (using the 360 degree positions for each point):
    PF = Ascendant +
    Moon
    -
    Sun
    The formula for the night-time Part of Fortune is PF = Ascendant + Sun - Moon
    Each calculation method results in a different
    zodiac
    position for the
    Part of Fortune
    .
    Al Biruni
    (973 – 1048), an 11th-century mathematician, astronomer and scholar, who was the greatest proponent of this system of prediction, listed a total of 97 Arabic Parts, which were widely used for astrological consultations. Paul Vachier has prepared an Arabic Parts Calculator for all the Arabic Parts.
    Marcianopolis
    , or
    Marcianople
    was an ancient Roman city in
    Thracia
    . It was located at the site of modern day
    Devnya
    ,
    Bulgaria
    .
    The city was so renamed by Emperor
    Trajan
    after his sister
    Ulpia Marciana
    , and was previously known as Parthenopolis. Romans repulsed a
    Gothic
    attack to this town in
    267
    (or
    268
    ), during the reign of
    Gallienus
    .
    Diocletian
    made it the capital of the
    Moesia Secunda
    province.
    Valens
    made it his winter quarters in 368 and succeeding years, Emperor
    Justinian I
    restored and fortified it. In 587, it was sacked by the king of the
    Avars
    but at once retaken by the Romans. The Roman army quartered there in 596 before crossing the Danube to assault the Avars.
    Between 893 and 972 it was one of the most important medieval cities in south-eastern Europe.
    L
    ucius Septimius Severus
    (or rarely
    Severus I
    ) (April 11, 145/146-February 4, 211) was a
    Roman
    general, and
    Roman Emperor
    from April 14, 193 to 211. He was born in what is now the
    Berber
    part of Rome's historic
    Africa Province
    .
    Septimius Severus was born and raised at
    Leptis Magna
    (modern
    Berber
    , southeast of
    Carthage
    , modern
    Tunisia
    ). Severus came from a wealthy, distinguished family of
    equestrian
    rank. Severus was of
    Italian
    Roman ancestry on his mother's side and of
    Punic
    or
    Libyan
    -Punic ancestry on his father's. Little is known of his father,
    Publius Septimius Geta
    , who held no major political status but had two cousins who served as consuls under emperor
    Antoninus Pius
    . His mother, Fulvia Pia's family moved from
    Italy
    to
    North Africa
    and was of the
    Fulvius
    gens, an ancient and politically influential clan, which was originally of
    plebeian
    status. His siblings were a younger
    Publius Septimius Geta
    and Septimia Octavilla. Severus’s maternal cousin was
    Praetorian Guard
    and consul
    Gaius Fulvius Plautianus
    .
    In 172, Severus was made a
    Senator
    by the then emperor
    Marcus Aurelius
    . In 187 he married secondly
    Julia Domna
    . In 190 Severus became
    consul
    , and in the following year received from the emperor
    Commodus
    (successor to Marcus Aurelius) the command of the
    legions
    in
    Pannonia
    .
    On the murder of
    Pertinax
    by the troops in 193, they proclaimed Severus Emperor at
    Carnuntum
    , whereupon he hurried to Italy. The former emperor,
    Didius Julianus
    , was condemned to death by the Senate and killed, and Severus took possession of Rome without opposition.
    The legions of
    Syria
    , however, had proclaimed
    Pescennius Niger
    emperor. At the same time, Severus felt it was reasonable to offer
    Clodius Albinus
    , the powerful governor of Britannia who had probably supported Didius against him, the rank of Caesar, which implied some claim to succession. With his rearguard safe, he moved to the East and crushed Niger's forces at the
    Battle of Issus
    . The following year was devoted to suppressing Mesopotamia and other Parthian vassals who had backed Niger. When afterwards Severus declared openly his son
    Caracalla
    as successor, Albinus was hailed emperor by his troops and moved to Gallia. Severus, after a short stay in Rome, moved northwards to meet him. On
    February 19
    ,
    197
    , in the
    Battle of Lugdunum
    , with an army of 100,000 men, mostly composed of
    Illyrian
    ,
    Moesian
    and
    Dacian
    legions, Severus defeated and killed Clodius Albinus, securing his full control over the Empire.
    Emperor
    Severus was at heart a
    soldier
    , and sought glory through military exploits. In 197 he waged a brief and successful war against the
    Parthian Empire
    in retaliation for the support given to Pescennius Niger. The Parthian capital
    Ctesiphon
    was sacked by the legions, and the northern half of
    Mesopotamia
    was restored to Rome.
    His relations with the
    Roman Senate
    were never good. He was unpopular with them from the outset, having seized power with the help of the military, and he returned the sentiment. Severus ordered the execution of dozens of Senators on charges of corruption and
    conspiracy
    against him, replacing them with his own favorites.
    He also disbanded the
    Praetorian Guard
    and replaced it with one of his own, made up of 50,000 loyal soldiers mainly camped at
    Albanum
    , near Rome (also probably to grant the emperor a kind of centralized reserve). During his reign the number of legions was also increased from 25/30 to 33. He also increased the number of auxiliary corps (
    numerii
    ), many of these troops coming from the Eastern borders. Additionally the annual wage for a soldier was raised from 300 to 500
    denarii
    .
    Although his actions turned Rome into a military
    dictatorship
    , he was popular with the citizens of Rome, having stamped out the rampant corruption of Commodus's reign. When he returned from his victory over the Parthians, he erected the
    Arch of Septimius Severus
    in Rome.
    According to Cassius Dio, however, after 197 Severus fell heavily under the influence of his Praetorian Prefect,
    Gaius Fulvius Plautianus
    , who came to have almost total control of most branches of the imperial administration. Plautianus's daughter,
    Fulvia Plautilla
    , was married to Severus's son, Caracalla. Plautianus’s excessive power came to an end in 205, when he was denounced by the Emperor's dying brother and killed. The two following
    praefecti
    , including the jurist
    Aemilius Papinianus
    , received however even larger powers.
    Campaigns in Caledonia (Scotland)
    Starting from 208 Severus undertook a number of military actions in
    Roman Britain
    , reconstructing
    Hadrian's Wall
    and campaigning in
    Scotland
    .
    He reached the area of the
    Moray Firth
    in his last campaign in Caledonia, as was called Scotland by the Romans.. In 210 obtained a peace with the
    Picts
    that lasted practically until the final withdrawal of the Roman legions from Britain, before falling severely ill in
    Eboracum
    (
    York
    ).
    Death
    He is famously said to have given the advice to his sons: "Be harmonious, enrich the soldiers, and scorn all other men" before he died at Eboracum on
    February 4
    ,
    211
    . Upon his death in 211, Severus was
    deified
    by the Senate and succeeded by his sons,
    Caracalla
    and
    Geta
    , who were advised by his wife
    Julia Domna
    . The stability Severus provided the Empire was soon gone under their reign.
    Accomplishments and Record
    Though his military expenditure was costly to the empire, Severus was the strong, able ruler that Rome needed at the time. He began a tradition of effective emperors elevated solely by the military. His policy of an expanded and better-rewarded army was criticized by his contemporary
    Dio Cassius
    and
    Herodianus
    : in particular, they pointed out the increasing burden (in the form of taxes and services) the civilian population had to bear to maintain the new army.
    Severus was also distinguished for his buildings. Apart from the triumphal arch in the Roman Forum carrying his full name, he also built the
    Septizodium
    in Rome and enriched greatly his native city of
    Leptis Magna
    (including another triumphal arch on the occasion of his visit of 203).
    Severus and Christianity
    Christians were
    persecuted
    during the reign of Septimus Severus. Severus allowed the enforcement of policies already long-established, which meant that Roman authorities did not intentionally seek out Christians, but when people were accused of being Christians they could either curse
    Jesus
    and make an offering to
    Roman gods
    , or be executed. Furthermore, wishing to strengthen the peace by encouraging religious harmony through
    syncretism
    , Severus tried to limit the spread of the two quarrelsome groups who refused to yield to syncretism by outlawing
    conversion
    to Christianity or
    Judaism
    . Individual officials availed themselves of the laws to proceed with rigor against the Christians. Naturally the emperor, with his strict conception of law, did not hinder such partial persecution, which took place in
    Egypt
    and the
    Thebaid
    , as well as in
    Africa proconsularis
    and the East. Christian
    martyrs
    were numerous in
    Alexandria
    (cf.
    Clement of Alexandria
    ,
    Stromata
    , ii. 20;
    Eusebius
    ,
    Church History
    , V., xxvi., VI., i.). No less severe were the persecutions in Africa, which seem to have begun in 197 or 198 (cf.
    Tertullian's
    Ad martyres
    ), and included the Christians known in the
    Roman martyrology
    as the martyrs of
    Madaura
    . Probably in 202 or 203
    Felicitas
    and
    Perpetua
    suffered for their faith. Persecution again raged for a short time under the proconsul
    Scapula
    in 211, especially in
    Numidia
    and
    Mauritania
    . Later accounts of a
    Gallic
    persecution, especially at
    Lyon
    , are legendary. In general it may thus be said that the position of the Christians under Septimius Severus was the same as under the
    Antonines
    ; but the law of this Emperor at least shows clearly that the
    rescript
    of
    Trajan
    [
    needed
    clarification
    ]
    had failed to execute its purpose.
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