Next
club meeting Monday 7th December
2015.
The
activities will be as follows:
1.
The
main feature will be a mini coin fair. Tables will not be charged for & there
will be a collective members table.
2.
A
coin quiz
3.
Members
to bring along one or two items that for some reason are considered special
(e.g. recent acquisition, a long sought after piece, an unusual find, an oddity
etc.). A brief written explanation as to why the piece is special to you.
4.
Christmas
buffet!
Meetings are held
at the Abbey Baptist Church, Abbey Square, commencing at 7.00 p.m.
Notices
·
The
Xmas dinner is booked for 18.45 on Sat 5 December 2015 at The Cunning
Man. The cost will be £25 per person, menu details are
given in a separate attachment to this e-mail. We have to pre-order three weeks
before. Note that coffee/ mince pie can be chosen in place of a dessert. If you
haven’t already done so, please let Peter know
1) if you want to attend
2) your menu choices
either by e-mail or at the November meeting.
·
Please continue thinking about Short Talks for
January, and Auction lots for March!
November Meeting
Peter spoke on “The
Death of Commodus (AD192) - the
aftermath: in Britain and the Roman Empire”. Note that all illustrations are denarii unless otherwise stated.
LVCIVS AVRELIVS COMMODVS, born in 161 to Faustina Jr. and MARCUS
AURELIUS, became Caesar on in 166 and co-Augustus with Aurelius in
177. When Aurelius died in 180 he took
the throne, but quickly gave up Aurelius' military gains and became know for a
regime of violence and depravity. LUCILLA,
his sister, and CRISPINA, his wife,
were exiled and killed in 183. He was an
excellent athlete, and believed he was Hercules incarnate. His cruel insanity which led to the murder of
a large percentage of senior Roman leaders led to his murder on 31 December 192
by Laetus, his Praetorian Prefect, and his mistress
Marcia.
|
|
|
|
Marcus
Aurelius |
Commodus |
Lucilla |
Crispina |
The conspirators said that
Commodus had died of apoplexy and Laetus persuaded PUBLIUS
HELVIUS PERTINAX, the Prefect of
Rome, to make a bid for the throne. Accordingly, on 1 January 193 the city
awoke to a new emperor, Pertinax. Commodus was
subjected to the decree of "damnatio memoriae" by the Senate.
Pertinax was generally the army’s and provincial governors’
choice but the reforms he had to introduce to stabilise the Empire’s economy
were unpopular and within months he was assassinated by the
his Praetorian Guard. The Empire was sold to the highest bidder, one
MARCVS DIDIVS SEVERVS JVLIANVS
(26,000 sestertii/ Guard) and the Empire was
scandalised. Three grouping of provincial governors sought to overthrow Julianus: SEPTIMIUS
SEVERUS in the east frontier, PESCENNIUS
NIGER in Syria and CLODIUS ALBINUS
in Britain.
|
|
|
|
Pertinax |
Didius Julianus |
Septimius Severus |
Pescennius Niger |
Doing a deal with Albinus and
blocking Niger’s intended advance through the Balkans to take Rome, Severus
reached Rome and camped outside. Julianus was
murdered by the soldiers after a reign of a few months. Severus disbanded the
Praetorian Guard and had the Senate revoke its decree of "damnatio memoriae" of 195 to
strengthen his own ties to Marcus Aurelius. Legitimacy was a key issue over the
next 30 years with most of the emperors changing their names to improve their
pedigree. In the event, Niger was killed and, as Severus’ two sons (CARACALLA and GETA) matured, Albinus was defeated and killed, leaving the Empire
with Severus and his family.
|
|
|
|
Clodius Albinus |
Caracalla |
Geta |
Caracalla
(Ant) |
Severus campaigned
almost all his life, dying in York after a lacklustre invasion of Scotland. He
was succeeded by Caracalla who proved at least as bad as Commodus. He killed
his brother Geta in 2012 and eventually was
assassinated in 217 by a soldier in his guard. His Prefect, MACRINUS was installed as emperor.
Severus had married JULIA DOMNA and
her family were adherents to the El Gabal cult in Emesa. The family contrived to get a nephew of Caracalla on
the throne who ruled in the name of MARCUS AURELIUS ANTONINUS (Caracalla’s
name) but better known as ELAGABALUS.
The orientalising of the
office of emperor scandalised Rome and he was assassinated in 222. After 30
years of stress the Empire settled down for a few years under his young cousin SEVERUS ALEXANDER (well, until 235 when
he was murdered).
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|
|
|
Macrinus (Ant) |
Julia Domna |
Elagabalus |
Severus
Alexander |
The important historical
point is that many coins contain the legend BRIT and are relatively cheap, especially those of Caracalla.
The silver coinage was
severely debased in this period, with a new coin, purportedly two denarii – the Antoninianus –
being introduced by Caracalla at less than the weight of two denarii – which itself was debased until extinction 60
years later, with good silver driven out of circulation. Inflation, mainly
caused by the cost of maintaining an army (Septimius’
advice to Caracalla was …pay the soldiers
well. Nothing else matters.)
ruined the economy which could not raise taxes to
cope.
Future
Events.
Past Events
In November 1975 the club auction took place - no details available.
In 1985 we had a talk on the excavations at Silchester.
The club auction was held in 1995.
In 2005 Julian Baker described the Portable
Antiquities Scheme.
Club
Secretary.