'One of the strengths of [this] book is the way that coinage is interpreted within the broader cultural and visual context. It is a fluent and convincing book with a plethora of hard facts and statistics, and it is hoped that similar detailed numismatic studies of other reigns will be forthcoming. Rowan's [volume] will be very useful to scholars of the Severan period, those engaging with imperial ideology and numismatics more generally.' Alexia Petsalis-Diomidis, The Journal of Roman Studies
1. Introduction; 2. Contextualising a 'foreign' dynasty; 3. Septimius Severus, Liber Pater and Hercules; 4. Medical tourism and iconographic dialogues in the reign of Caracalla; 5. Elagabalus, Summus Sacerdos Elagabali; 6. Severus Alexander and the re-founding of Rome; Conclusion: divine ideology in the Severan dynasty; Appendix 1. Silver reverse types from Trajan to Severus Alexander; Appendix 2. Reverse silver dies of the 'stone on quadriga' type of Elagabalus; Appendix 3. List of hoards used.