Very fine Roman silver anoniniani of famous Romans whose lives were intertwined.
was Roman Emperor from 238 to 244. At 13, he became the youngest sole legal Roman emperor ever.
was the Empress of Rome and wife of Philip I "the Arab" who reigned over the Roman Empire from 244 to 249.
In February 244, Gordian III was killed in Mesopotamia. There is a possibility that Severa was involved in a conspiracy to murder him.
Philip became the new emperor who gave his young predecessor a proper funeral and his ashes were returned to Rome for burial.
Sometimes Severa and Philip are considered as the first Christian imperial couple, because during their reign the persecutions of Christians had ceased and the couple had become tolerant towards the faith of the Christians.
In August 249, Philip had died in battle in Verona and Decius became the new emperor.
Severa was in Rome that time. When the news of Philip's death had reached Rome, Severa's son was murdered by the Praetorian Guard. The child died in her arms.
Severa survived her husband and son and lived later in obscurity. The details of her later life are unknown.
MARCVS IVLIVS PHILIPPVS known as Phillip I
was born in 237 to Marcia Otacilia Severa and Philip I,
In 244 his father was serving as Praetorian Praefect under Gordian III in the Sasanian campaign when Gordian mysteriously died on February 25.
His father Philip was acclaimed Augustus and concluded a hasty peace with the Sasanians. Disturbances along the Danube River compelled the elder Philip to leave for a Danubian campaign in late 245.
He apparently was engaged in that campaign for all of 246, not returning to Rome until 247.
It is not certain whether Philip II accompanied his father on that campaign, but he was proclaimed Consul for 247 (along with his father), and upon his father's return he was proclaimed Augustus, also receiving the title 'Pontifex Maximus'.
The reception of that title signified a joint reign, rather than being junior in status to his father.
Later Philip I convinced Decius to take command along the Danube and within six months he had the situation under control. Unfortunately his troops then forced the title of Augustus upon him.
Decius sent word to Philip I that he would abdicate when he was safely back in Rome, but Philip believed that was merely a trick to allow Decius to approach Rome unmolested.
Accordingly he set out to meet Decius, and the armies met at Verona in August, 249 where Philip was killed .
Some sources indicate that Philip II died with him, although the prevailing opinion is that Philip II had remained in Rome with his mother, who, fearing Decius, took refuge in the Praetorian camp upon hearing the news from Verona.
Unfortunately the Praetorians decided for Decius and the twelve-year-old Emperor was slain in his mother's arms. Otacilia Severa survived to sink into obscurity.
was then Roman Emperor from 249 to 251. In the last year of his reign, he co-ruled with his son Herennius Etruscus until they were both killed in the Battle of Abrittus.
was the wife of Emperor Decius, and mother of Emperors Herennius Etruscus and Hostilian.
As with most third century Roman Empresses, very little is known about her.
,She became regent on her son Hostilian, when Decius and Herennius were defeated and killed in the Battle of Abrittus to sink into obscurity after her husband and sons perished.