Julia Domna — Denarius, VENVS FELIX, Rome

Struck at Rome. Julia Domna came out of Emesa in Syria, daughter of the hereditary high priest of the sun god Elagabal, and she married Septimius Severus years before he had any claim on the purple. She was Augusta from 193 until her death in 217.

The obverse legend is just IVLIA AVGVSTA. VENVS FELIX on the reverse is Venus the Fortunate. She stands facing with her head turned left, an apple held out in her right hand, drawing her drapery off the left shoulder with the other. The apple is her prize from the judgment of Paris. RIC files her coinage under Severus, which is why the reference below reads the way it does.

Attribution: RIC IV Septimius Severus 580

Mint: Rome

Weight: 3.53 g

Diameter: 17 mm

Catalogued in the NumisLens cabinet — NL-1QV1F-FDC60

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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.