Silver Denarius - Ancient Rome, c. 222-235 AD
Ruler: Severus Alexander (Augustus)
Obv: Laureate bust of Severus Alexander, right
Rev: "AEQVITAS AVG" Aequitas standing left, holding scales & cornucopiae
Mint: Rome (struck 222 AD)
Sear-R7855, 19mm, 3.94gm
Severus Alexander was the last emperor of the Severan dynasty. He succeeded his cousin Elagabalus upon the latter's assassination in 222, and was ultimately assassinated himself, marking the epoch event for the Crisis of the Third Century — nearly fifty years of civil wars, foreign invasion, and collapse of the monetary economy.
Alexander was the heir apparent to his cousin, the eighteen-year-old Emperor who had been murdered along with his mother by his own guards, who, as a mark of contempt, had their remains cast into the Tiber river. He and his cousin were both grandsons of the influential and powerful Julia Maesa, who had arranged for Elagabalus' acclamation as emperor by the famous Third Gallic Legion. It was the rumor of Alexander's death that triggered the assassination of Elagabalus and his mother.
