Septimius Severus — Denarius, Sol with Whip, Laodicea

Struck at Laodicea ad Mare in 197 AD. The Syrian port had backed Severus against Pescennius Niger while its rival Antioch chose the other side, and the new emperor rewarded it with a working mint and the rank of metropolis. IMP VIIII on the obverse places the coin in the year Severus defeated Clodius Albinus at Lugdunum and turned east against Parthia.

The reverse reads P M TR P V COS II P P: Pontifex Maximus, holder of the tribunician power for the fifth time, twice consul, father of the country. Sol stands left, radiate, cloak over the left shoulder, right hand raised and a whip in the left.

Attribution: RIC IV 492

Mint: Laodicea ad Mare

Weight: 2.82 g

Diameter: 17 mm

Catalogued in the NumisLens cabinet — NL-80RSF-TBE2R

Combined shipping: buy more than one coin and the rest ship free in the same package.

Attributions are my own, made from the references listed. Ancient coins are not always

straightforward, and a reference can turn out to be wrong or open to argument, so please

study the photographs. They are part of the description, and if you read the coin

differently I would like to know.