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Julia Mamaea (ca. 180 - 235 AD) was the niece of Emperor Septimus Severus and Empress Julia Domna. After the death of her cousin Caracalla, she helped convince her nephew (the newly proclaimed Emperor Elagabalus) to adopt her son Alexander Severus as heir.
Upon Emperor Elagabalus’s murder in 222 AD, Julia Mamaea was declared Empress as the regent for her 13-year-old son. To support the young Emperor, she formed an imperial advisory board of distinguished senators to run the Empire's day-to-day business. In this fashion, the previous administration's disquieting policies were abolished in lieu of more traditional path to restore prosperity and stability.
Julia Mamaea's status was advertised on coins such as this denarius struck in Rome about a decade intro Alexander's reign (circa 232 AD). The obverse bust of the Empress is recognizable from her Severan features and hairstyle along with her epithet IVLIA MAMAEA AVG. The relationship between mother and son is emphasized on the verso, wherein Fecunditas, Goddess of fertility, stretches out her hand to a small boy, encircled by the inscription FECVND AVGVSTA.
Consistent with coin's imagery, Julia Mamaea was extremely attentive to Alexander’s raising, grooming, and advising; she jealously guarded Alexander. In 225 AD, she arranged his marriage to the beautiful Barbia Orbiana, who was subsequently pronounced Augusta. Orbiana's father, the influential Senator Lucius Seius Herennius Sallustius, was subsequently elevated as Caesar. At least that's one possible history. There is also another, perhaps more likely, history wherein the relationship between Sallustius and Alexander is not so amicable; Sallustus may have attempted to usurp Alexander's power. Either way, Julia Mamaea saw to it that Orbiana was stripped of the Augusta tile and banished to Africa, and Sallustius was executed.
In addition to Alexander's marital affairs, Julia Mamaea held sway over his domestic and foreign policies. The latter even included accompanying her son on military campaigns following the custom started by her aunt Julia Domna. For her efforts, Julia Mamaea garnered several honorary titles including
mater augusti nostri et castrorum et senatus et patriae (mother of the Augustus, the camp, the senate and the country) and she was the first Roman woman to bear the rather lofty title of
mater universi generis humani (mother of all humanity). To her son Alexander, Julia Mamaea was
consors imperii (partner in rule). Although well-received initially, this imperial arrangement eventually led many Romans, particularly in the military, to view Alexander as weak and unworthy to rule the Empire.
The imperial team became increasingly unpopular as the perception spread that Alexander was a impuissant ruler dominated by his mother. By 235 AD, the situation reached a crisis point when Alexander took his mother's advice to try bribing his way to peace with barbarians, in particular the Alemanni, who were invading along the Empire’s norther border. From the Emperor's perspective, bribing the barbarians was practical and conserved his troops’ strength, facilitating their redeployment to the remote eastern borders to deal with the increasing threat of the Sasanian Empire. From the troops’ perspective, however, the thought of their Emperor bowing to his mother’s counsel to bribe barbarians was embarrassing. Furthermore, the Rhine legions were mostly local recruits and unwilling to re-deploy. Consequently, mutinous soldiers took the matter into their own hands and murdered Alexander and his mother Mamaea.
The double murder marked the end of not only Julia Mamaea's reign, but also that of her Severan-Emesan dynasty. It also marked the end of the Empire's attempt at a comeback, as the Empire completed its descent into the chaotic period known as the Crisis of the Third Century.
Coin details: ROMAN EMPIRE, Julia Mamaea (222-235 AD), AR Denarius, Rome Mint, 232 AD, NGC Grade: MS★, Strike: 5/5, Surface: 5/5, Obverse: Diademed and draped bust right, IVLIA MAMAEA AVG, Reverse: Fecunditas standing left, holding cornucopiae and stretching out right hand to boy standing right, FECVND AVGVSTA, References: RIC IV 331 (Alexander); BMCRE 917-9 (Alexander); RSC 5.
Image: Sony ɑ 7R Ⅴ camera / Sony FE 90mm f/2.8 Macro G OSS lens.