Art Institute of Chicago
Aureus (Coin) Portraying Empress Julia Domna
Roman, minted in RomeLinkedCulture matchlcp-e1eed953bf88
- Date
- 196-211, issued by Septimius Severus
- Medium
- Gold
- Culture
- Rome
- Department
- Arts of Greece, Rome, and Byzantium
- Institution
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Object ID
- 5664
The front (obverse) of this coin portrays a bust of Empress Julia Domna facing right and draped. The back (reverse) depicts the deity Pietas standing left, with her right hand over a lit and garlanded altar, cradling an incense box in her left arm. Julia Domna was the wife of the Emperor Septimius Severus and the mother of Caracalla and Geta. This coin was issued during the joint reign of Severus and his elder son. As the self-assured portrait on this coin suggests, Julia's influence was openly recognized by contemporaries. Intellectual, ambitious, and steel-willed, the Syrian-born Julia was called "the philosopher". The figure of Piety on the reverse is a standard type, invoking the traditional Roman attitude of respect and duty toward one's family, country, and gods.
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Provenance & credit
As published by the source institution. Coverage varies — not every institution's open-data feed includes ownership history.
- Credit line
- Gift of Martin A. Ryerson
- Provenance
- Martin A. Ryerson (1856-1932), Chicago; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1922.
Linked open data
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- Object type
- AAT300037334
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