Septimius Severus, denarius, Rome mint, RIC 191f
I have recently been gifted this wonderful Consecratio denarius of Septimius Severus with the funeral pyre reverse. It is a type I have been looking for for quite a while now and it seems to be much less frequently encountered than the alternative type of the eagle on a globe.
As the a follow on from my post “The supposed site of the cremation of Septimius Severus” (April 2024) I want to set out what the ancient historians had to say about the events, starting with the death of Severus on 4th February 211.
Herodian records in book 3, chapter 15:
[3.15.2] Considering his father, who had been ill for a long time and slow to die, a burdensome nuisance, he (Caracalla) tried to persuade the physicians to harm the old man in their treatments so that he would be rid of him more quickly. After a short time, however, Severus died, succumbing chiefly to grief, after having achieved greater glory in military affairs than any of the emperors who had preceded him.
[3.15.4] After his father’s death, Caracalla seized control and immediately began to murder everyone in the court; he killed the physicians who had refused to obey his orders to hasten the old man’s death and also murdered those men who had reared his brother and himself because they persisted in urging him to live at peace with Geta. He did not spare any of the men who had attended his father or were held in esteem by him.
[3.15.7] Since all these opposed his wishes, Caracalla, from necessity, not from choice, agreed to live with Geta in peace and friendship, but this was pretended, not sincere. Thus, with both of them managing imperial affairs with equal authority, the two youths prepared to sail from Britain and take their father’s remains to Rome. After burning his body and putting the ashes, together with perfumes, into an alabaster urn, they accompanied this urn to Rome and placed it in the sacred mausoleum of the emperors.
[3.15.8] They now crossed the Channel with the army and landed as conquerors on the opposite shore of Gaul.
There is no agreement across the ancient authors over the receptacle to carry the remains of the emperor. As well as the alabaster urn of Herodian we get a golden casket in the, often unreliable, Historia August. Cassius Dio, however, offers the suggestion of a special purple stone receptacle.
Purple, the imperial colour, could possibly be Blue John. The Romans were mining lead, with silver as a by-product, in Derbyshire. They would have encountered Blue John and it would be a most appropriate material for the container for the remains of a deceased emperor.
On the actual return to Rome, and the associated ceremonies we can turn to Herodian, this time book 4. Picking up in May 211...
[4.1.3] When they arrived in Rome, the people welcomed them with laurel branches and the Senate, too, came out to greet them. The two youths headed the procession, wearing the imperial purple; the consuls for that year followed, carrying the urn which held the ashes of Severus. Then those who had come out to greet the young emperors passed by the urn and paid their respects to the emperor.
[4.1.4] The procession escorted the urn to the mausoleum where the remains of Marcus and his imperial predecessors are to be seen. After performing the rites prescribed for new emperors, the youths entered the imperial palace.
Continuing in Herodian book 4, chapter 2.....
[4.2.1] It is the Roman custom to elevate to divine status those emperors who at their death leave sons or designated successors; they call this honor deification. To begin with, public mourning, a combination of festive feeling and religious ceremony, is observed throughout the entire city.
[4.2.2] After a costly funeral, the body of the emperor is interred in the customary fashion. But then a wax image is fashioned in the exact likeness of the corpse and placed on a large, high couch of ivory draped with coverings embroidered with gold. This wax figure lies on the couch like a sick man, pale and wan.
[4.2.3] During most of the day people sit on each side of the couch; on the left is the entire Senate, clad in black; on the right are all the women who, because of their husbands’ or their fathers’ positions, are entitled to honor and respect. None of these women wear gold ornaments or necklaces; each affects the plain white garments associated with mourning.
[4.2.4] The various ceremonies mentioned above continue for seven days. Every day the physicians come and visit the couch; after pretending to examine the sick man, they announce daily that his condition is growing steadily worse. When it appears that he is dead, the noblest of the equestrians and picked young senators lift the couch and carry it along the Sacred Way to the Old Forum, where the Roman magistrates give up their authority.
[4.2.5] Tiers of seats are erected on each side of the couch: on one side sits a chorus of children from the noblest and most distinguished families; on the other, a chorus of women who seem to deserve respect. In honor of the dead man each choral group sings hymns and paeans arranged in solemn and mournful measures.
[4.2.6] The couch is then carried out of the city to the Field of Mars, where, in the widest part of the plain, a square building has been constructed entirely of huge wooden beams in the shape of a house.
[4.2.7] The whole interior of this building is filled with firewood; and on the outside it is decorated with gold-embroidered hangings, ivory figures, colored paintings. Upon this structure rests a smaller second story, similar in shape and decoration, with open windows and doors. And there is a third and a fourth story, each smaller than the one beneath it; finally, the smallest story of all tops this structure.
[4.2.8] The building may be compared in shape to the lighthouses along the coast which by the light of their fires bring to safety ships in distress at night. The common name for such a lighthouse is Pharos. They bring the couch to this structure and carry it up to the second story; then they add every kind of perfume and incense the earth provides, together with all the fruits, herbs, and juices that are gathered for their fragrance.
[4.2.9] Every province, every city, every man of fame and distinction is happy to furnish these last gifts in the emperor’s honor. After a huge pile of aromatic material is collected, and the structure is completely filled, a cavalry exhibition is staged around the building; the entire Equestrian cavalry circles around it, following a fixed rotating pattern in the Pyrrhic choruses and manoeuvres.
[4.2.10] Chariots, too, are driven around the building in similar formations by drivers in purple robes; these chariots carry statues whose faces are those of Romans who fought or ruled in distinguished fashion. When these rites have been completed, the emperor’s successor puts a torch to the structure, after which the people set it on fire on all sides. The flames easily and quickly consume the enormous pile of fire-wood and fragrant stuffs.
[4.2.11] From the topmost and smallest story, as if from a battlement, an eagle flies forth, soaring with the flames into the sky; the Romans believe that this eagle carries the soul of the emperor from the earth up to heaven. Thereafter the emperor is worshiped with the rest of the gods.
It is this pyre, described above, that features as the design represented on the coin type.
