LaurieAnnie's photos with the keyword: Severan

Marble portrait bust of Severus Alexander Period: Late Severan Date: ca. A.D. 230–235 Culture: Roman Medium: marble Dimensions: Overall: 29 1/8 x 29 1/2 in. (74 x 75 cm) Classification: Stone Sculpture Credit Line: Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace and Philodoroi Gifts, 2011 Accession Number:2011.87 The young emperor Severus Alexander (r. A.D. 222–235) is wearing a toga contabulata, with a large overfold (sinus) across the chest and a diagonal fold extending over the left shoulder and down the back. The type is distinctive of later Roman portraits in which the subject is shown in formal civic dress. The bust was probably produced in an imperial workshop at Rome and was set up in a prominent public place, perhaps with other imperial portraits representing his predecessors or with other members of the imperial family, such as his mother Julia Mamaea. The head, carved with great skill and sensitivity, combines a sense of growing maturity and power with a still visible youthful delicacy. The last emperor of the Severan dynasty, Severus Alexander died violently in Germany at the age of twenty-six. Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/258540

Title: Bronze sestertius of Alexander Severus Medium; Technique: Bronze Culture: Roman Period: Mid-Imperial, Severan Date: A.D. 231 Classification: Coins Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1908 Accession Number: 08.170.392 Description: IMP SEV ALEXANDER AVG, head of emperor/IOVI CONSERVATORI S C, Jupiter holding thunderbolt over small figure of emperor Rome Text from: www.metmuseum.org/Works_of_Art/collection_database/greek_...

Aureus of Septimius Severus, with a portrait of Julia Domna, ca. 193–96 a.d.; Severan Roman Gold Diam. 0.78 in. (2 cm) Gift of Joseph H. Durkee, 1899 (99.35.218) The Severan dynasty commenced with the reign of Septimius Severus (r. 193–211 A.D.), a soldier from Leptis Magna in North Africa (modern Libya). With his marriage to Julia Domna (25.78.90), by whom he fathered two sons, Caracalla and Geta, Septimius allied himself to a powerful and ambitious Syrian family. Some sources say that Julia Domna was the daughter of the high priest of the Syrian god Elagabalus, and that the future Roman emperor may have met her while stationed at a legionary camp near Antioch. Julia Domna was an educated woman and, together with her relatives, came to dominate the imperial court, giving the Severan dynasty a very oriental character with their predilection for luxuriant materials and other exotica. She also held considerable power during the reigns of her husband and her elder son, Caracalla (r. 211–17 A.D.) (40.11.1a), and is often shown on coins together with her husband or two children along with legends and images that emphasize her role as imperial mother and protector. The reverse image on this coin depicts Venus Genetrix, a matronly goddess with Eastern connotations of fertility and mother goddesses, sitting on a throne with a winged cupid at her feet. Venus was one of a host of goddesses represented on Roman coinage to enhance the attributes of the issuer of the coin or the person whose portrait graced the obverse. Other such deities include Juno, queen of the gods and the patron goddess of mothers, Fortuna, Concordia, as well as personifications such as Happiness and Fecundity. All of these were meant to be closely associated with the empress and her roles as the producer of royal heirs and as a model for women of the empire. Text from: www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/99.35.218