Lucius Septimius Severus Pertinax was born at Leptis Magna (in present-day Libya) in the Roman province of Africa. The son of Publius Septimius Geta and Fulvia Pia, he reigned as emperor from 9 April 193 to 4 February 211. Septimius Severus founded a dynasty of five emperors who ruled ‒ with a one-year interruption from April 217 to June 218 ‒ from 193 to 235, the year in which Severus Alexander, the last member of the dynasty, was assassinated at Mogontiacum (modern-day Mainz, Germany). The images and inscription on this aureus, which happens to be the only coin to show all four members of the imperial family, affirm the continuity of the empire and the Severan dynasty. This proved to be a vain hope, as Caracalla ‒ the elder son of Septimius Severus ‒ killed his own brother Geta in the arms of their mother.
