Obverse: SEVERINA AVG; Diademed and
Draped Bust of the Empress Facing Right on a
Crescent
Reverse: CONCORDIAE MILITVM; Concordia
Standing to the Left, Holding Two Military
Standards; XXI (in exergue)
Empress Severina was the wife of Aurelian, a
well liked and well respected emperor. Little is
known about the emperors of the chaotic third
century, and even less is known about the
women, as is the case with Empress Severina,
unfortunately. This coin portrait of Severina
shows us a determined face topped with an
elegantly coiffed hairdo. It is known that she
accompanied the Emperor on military
excursions and slept in the same type of beds
used by common soldiers. From the
inscriptions on the reverse of her coinage, it is
possible that she was the only woman ever to
rule the Roman Empire, although only for the
short duration between Aurelian’s
assassination and the Senate’s appointment of
Tacitus to the throne.
