Here's another interesting
Forum Purchase of the Day (but purchased a couple years ago) that I've just added to my "
captives"
Album:
https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=180556
Roman Provincial. Egypt, Alexandria, Severus Alexander Potin Tetradrachm (11.20g, 21mm, 12h), dated RY 13 (233/4 CE).
Obverse: Α ΚΑΙ ΜΑΡ ΑΥΡ ϹƐΥ ΑΛƐΞΑΝΔΡΟϹ. Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Severus Alexander right, seen from the rear.
Reverse: LIΓ to right (Year 13). Trophy of captured arms (helmet with cheek flaps, cuirass, four shields, and four javelins); at the base, two Germanic captives seated back to back, hands bound behind them; to left, palm.
References: RPC Online VI Temp. 10618; Emmett 3138/13; K & G 62.205; Milne 3166; Dattari 4404; BMC Alex. 1701; Geissen 2491.
Provenance: Ex-Forum Ancient Coins (Corr. Date; # RX92522 [LINK]; 23 Dec 2020), Errett Bishop (1928-1983) Collection.
A couple of interesting things about it...
Severus Alexander had just concluded a
peace with
Germanic tribes in 234 and commemorated it with these coins, depicting Germanic
captives. (On close inspection, I've always wondered, could that be a hairstyle similar to a Suebian knot? Hair swept forward, up, and knotted.)
Zoom in on Forum's sale photo:
Despite proclaiming
his conquest,
Severus Alexander's troops were apparently dissatisfied with
his leniency toward the Germans. This has been suggested as a major reason for
his (and
his mother,
Julia Mamea's) assassination by
his own troops, and replacement by their commander
Maximinus in 235 (within a year after this coin was struck).
Maximinus, of course, kept the coin
type. Here is my example from
his third regnal year (236/7), also from my
gallery:
https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=174801
Both coins continue the tradition of imagery first begun by
Julius Caesar's
Denarius of 46 BCE:
https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=174799
However, one of the interesting things about third century versions is the introduction of what we would call today "stress positions" on many of the
captives coins. (On the
Severus Alexander, but not the
Maximinus above.) Notice how, unlike
Julius Caesar's
captives (or
Vespasian's or
Trajan's),
Alexander's
captives are not allowed to sit on the ground and mourn at rest, but instead appear to be bound in a squatting position, their
hands (or elbows?) tied to the
trophy, their muscles stretched taut. Likewise, later 3rd century rulers would depict the
captives being spurned by
Sol (
Aurelian) or their horses (
Probus). Apparently the cruelty of bound captivity no longer satisfied!
