Description
Septimius Severus (AD 193-211).
AR Denarius, mint of Rome, AD 204-206.
Obverse: SEVERVS PIVS AVG, laureate head of Septimius Severus facing right.
Reverse: LAETITIA / TEMPORVM, the centre of the Circus Maximus decorated as a ship; the spina rigged with a sale, and the ship with turning markers fore and aft; four quadriga galloping above; animals running below; ostrich, panther, bear, bison and two lions.
(RIC 113; BMC 167).
Extremely Fine. A historically important reverse scene of superb detail. Possibly one of the finest known.
3.39g.
“The entire receptacle in the amphitheatre had been constructed so as to resemble a boat in shape, and was capable of receiving or discharging four hundred beasts at once; and then, as it suddenly fell apart, there came rushing forth bears, lionesses, panthers, lions, ostriches, wild asses, bisons (this is a kind of cattle foreign in species and appearance), so that seven hundred beasts in all, both wild and domesticated, at one and the same time were seen running about and were slaughtered.” Dio, Roman History (LXXVII, 4-5).
