Denarius Severus Alexander

Copy of a Roman silver coin (denarius) with the portrait of Emperor Severus Alexander (Marcus Aurel(l)ius Severus Alexander), who ruled between 222 and 235 AD.

On the reverse of the coin Roma is shown, the personified patron goddess of the city of Rome. She holds a small goddess of victory with a victor's wreath on her outstretched hand. The coin was minted short after the inauguration around 222 / 223 AD.

The fate of the child emperor Severus Alexander is at once sad and remarkable. At the age of only 12, he was elevated to emperor of Rome after the assassination of his predecessor Elagabal, in which Severus' mother had a hand. Julia Mamaea ran the affairs of state behind the scenes for her underage son, but neither was popular with the army or the Praetorian Guard. Revolts led to civil war-like conditions in Rome shortly after the child became emperor.

Despite his narrow power base, Severus Alexander was forced to lead a campaign against the Persians, which ended without a winner after heavy losses. Since numerous troops had been withdrawn from the Germanic border area for the war in the East, Germanic tribal units took the opportunity to plunder the Limes area in 233/234. The soldiers detached from there were particularly hard hit by this news and caused great resentment. Severus Alexander did not hesitate and went with his army to Mogontiacum (Mainz) to secure the situation on the ground. However, the emperor preferred diplomatic negotiations and protection payments to the Germanic tribes instead of taking revenge for the attacks. A mutiny finally broke out among the soldiers, whose pay and allowances had been severely curtailed, leading to the murder of the emperor and his mother. The army raised the officer Maximinus Thrax to emperor, thus beginning the epoch of the soldier emperors.

The new ruler set out on a punitive expedition to Germania in 235/236; the archaeological site of the "Battle of the Harzhorn" seems to be connected with this campaign. However, the successes are short-lived and the Roman Empire falls into a deep crisis in the following years.