★ Ex Biaggi Collection & Calicó Plate Coin ★

Septimius Severus AV Aureus. Rome, AD 197. L SEPT SEV PERT AVG IMP VIIII, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right / LIBERO PATRI, Bacchus (Liber) standing facing, head left, placing right hand on head, holding thyrsus in left; leopard at feet to left, head right. RIC -, cf. 99 (bust not draped or cuirassed) = C. 303 = BMCRE 222 note; Biaggi 1081 (this coin) = Calicó 2482 (same); Hill 311. 7.21g, 20mm, 6h.

Extremely Fine; crisp details. Very Rare.

This coin published in X. Calicó, Los Aureos Romanos (2002);
Ex Hunter Collection, Ira & Larry Goldberg Coins & Collectibles, Auction 72, 5 February 2013, lot 4164 (hammer: US$ 25,000);
Ex Leo Biaggi de Blasys (1906-1979) Collection.

The tutelary deities of Septimius Severus’ home city of Lepcis Magna (also spelt Leptis) were the Phoenician gods Shadaphra and Melqart, who were equated with Liber Pater (or Bacchus), and Hercules respectively. Their importance to the city is attested by several inscriptions and their prominence in Lepcitanian sculpture, the fact that their temples occupied central locations within the old forum, and the joint appearance of both Liber Pater and Hercules (or their attributes) on the coinage of Lepcis Magna from the first century BC to the first century AD. That these gods were important to Severus on a personal level is also evident, as they clearly served as the tutelary deities of his regime, appearing on several other coin issues during his reign, and on the provincial coinage in his sons’ names.