DIDIUS JULIANUS (193). Sestertius. Rome.

Obv: IMP CAES M DID SEVER IVLIAN AVG.
Laureate head right.
Rev: P M TR P COS / S - C.
Fortuna standing left, holding rudder on globe and cornucopia.

RIC 15.

Marcus Didius Severus Julianus was born in Mediolanum in AD 133 and grew up in the house of Marcus Aurelius, brought up by his mother, Domitia Lucilla, thanks to whom he was elected to the vigintivirate. Didius Julianus then distinguished himself in Germania against the Chauci and was awarded the consulship in 175. When Pertinax was assassinated, Didius Julianus proposed himself as his successor in a manner that, according to the historian Cassius Dione, was scandalous and infamous. Julian is said to have offered to the praetorians a large sum of money in exchange for the empire. Similarly, however, Sulpicianus, father-in-law of the late Pertinax, behaved in a sort of auction to buy the throne. Didius Julianus prevailed, winning power with 30,000 sesterces paid to each praetorian, but also promising to rehabilitate the memory of Commodus. His first action as emperor was in fact to bring down the head of the praetorian prefect Quintus Aemilius Leto, who had taken part in the conspiracy with Cassius Dion in 192 and was guilty of the murder of Commodu Didius Julian's power was short-lived, however, because of Septimius Severus, governor of Pannonia Superior, who accused him of murdering Pertinaces and was supported by the people. Faced with the advance of Septimius Severus, Didius Severus was abandoned by the legionaries of the Danube and also by the Praetorians, without whom it was impossible to maintain power in Rome. The Senate thus, in an extraordinary meeting, deposed Julian and condemned him to death

Condition: Good fine; atractive natural patina.

Weight: 18.23 g.
Diameter: 30 mm.