third

Here is a selection of vota coins from the third century, in chronological order. Some of the information is repeated from the main page or other pages.

What's new? 2022, June 13: Cararcalla Suscepta, Caracalla Soluta.

Septimius Severus, 193-211.
This is the only explicitly dated VOTA type of Septimius Severus. It has legend
VOT SVSC DEC PM TRP X COS III PP.
The "TRP X" allows us to date it to his tenth TRP year, 202.
Although the office of the tribune and thus the title TRP on coins changed December 10 in the early empire, under Septimius Severus it coincided with calendar years and he took TRP at the beginning of his reign, so (unlike Antoninus Pius) his regnal years are exactly the corresponding TRP years. TRP II began on January 1, 194. That makes TRP X begin on January 1, 202. (Also, he became "COS III" at the beginning of 202 and never was COS IIII.)
RIC 172. BMC 388. Sear II 6391. Struck AD 202.

So, how can this coin have "VOT SVSC X"? "Vota suscepta X". So this coin appears to be issued during the tenth year, not after the tenth year was completed. If it anticipates ten years being completed, wouldn't the ceremony be for vows soluta? Isn't the tenth year late to be mentioning vows taken (suscepta) for ten years? Is the depicted ceremony referring to the tenth year (about to be) completed and simultaneously vows renewed (suscepta) for more years, presumably twenty? Maybe vows for the tenth year were at the beginning of the regnal year and this coin suggests the year-10 vows were completed and new vows were suscepta for another ten. Maybe "DEC" refers to the next ten, not the completed ten.

On the second-century page there is a coin of Antoninus Pius issued with TRP XI whereas the one above has TRP X and "SVSC".

The following coin in the name of Caracalla was issued at the same time as the above coin of Septimius Severus.

Caracalla, Augustus 198-217
Denarius, 3.54 grams and 18 mm.
Struck 202 (TRP V)
ANTONINVS PIVS AVG, a common obverse legend for him.
VOT SVSC DEC PON TRP V COS
"Vows taken for 10 years Pontifex (priest) Power of the Tribune for the fifth time, Consul"
Emperor, togate, sacrificing over tripod altar.
RIC 68. BMC 397. Sear II 6908.

Most vows taken for ten years are taken at the beginning of the reign, not five years later. Many coins look forward to 10-year celebrations, but mention of 5-year celebrations on coins is rare until the fourth century, even though there probably were 5-year celebrations in earlier centuries that were not mentioned on coins. This year, 202, was the occasion for 10-year celebrations of Septimius Severus, so it is possible that the occasion would prompt vows for Caracalla as well, and what number vows would they be? Caracalla was in his year 5, so his vows would be for 10 years, as on this coin. We might wonder if the vows were really vows of Severus for whom Caracalla's TRP V is Septimius's TRP X. In fact, the previous coin, of Septimius, does have a very similar coin with much the same legend, however with titles appropriate for Septimius:
VOT SVSC DEC P M TRP X COS III PP (RIC 186, BMC 232, Sear II 6391).

VOTIS/DECEN/NALI/BVS in wreath
Denarius. 19-18 mm.
Sear 6396. RIC 520a. BMC 681 "Eastern mint, 198-202"

Year 11 suggests the coin commemorates the 10-year festival after its completion.

Septimius Severus (AD 193-211).
Denarius. 19 mm.
VOTA SVSCEPTA XX, the emperor veiled and draped as a priest sacrificing, pouring from a patera over a flaming altar, with legend
RIC 308 "202-210". Sear 6393. BMC 375 "201-210".

Vows taken for 20 would occur when the vows for 10 were paid. More coins mention vows taken than mention vows paid.

Next is one of the scarcer types that mentions vows being paid.

Caracalla, Augustus 198-217.
19 mm. 3.33 grams.
ANTONINVS PIVS AVG
Laureate head of Caracalla right
Emperor, togate, sacrificing over tripod altar, with bull on the ground behind.
VOTA SOLVT DEC COS III
"Vows paid for ten years, Consul for the third time"
Caracalla become COS III in 208 (and COS IV in 213), so the earliest this could be is 208. 208 was TRP XI, so this coin, which records vows for ten years as having been paid, is most likely from 208, right after the year in which they were paid.
RIC 204, BMC 578, Sear II 6906.

VOTA PVBLICA around
Julia Domna, as Pietas, sacrificing at altar
S C either side

[Repeated from the main page]

Caracalla, struck c. 207 AD.
VOTA SOLVT DEC (vows for ten years fullfilled) with COS II in exergue.
Caracalla standing right holding patera over tripod altar, flute (with two pipes) player facing behind the tripod altar, a sacrificial bull about to be slain by a victimarius with raised ax. A scene with action!

Of all the VOTA types, this is the only one to show this much of the ceremony.

Sear II 6907 variety (Sear's has COS III).
RIC Caracalla 204 (COS II) page 240 "Scarce, 209-212" which must be wrong on both counts. (It is very rare and not later than 207.) Hill 946 is COS III "R4" (0 or 1 in all the hoards he studied) and COS II is omitted, so it must be very rare, both as a type and as COS II. He was made Caesar in 196 and promoted to Augustus in 198 by his father, Septimius Severus. He became COS II in 205 and became COS III in 208.

Caracalla issued in 217 several vota types for year XX that commemorate his Parthian victory. He became Augustus in 198, possibly early in the year, so 217 was regnal year 20, his last year.

Caracalla, 196-198, 217
Denarius. 19 mm.
Victory seated, holding shield inscribed
VO/XX
trophy before with two captives at feet
PM TRP XX COS IIII PP
Dated to 217, his 20th regnal year (as Augustus)

Caracalla
Denarius. 19 mm.
VICT PARTHICA around
Victory seated right holding shield with
VO/XX

Struck 217
RIC 314a
Hill 1603 "R3" (very rare in hoards)
Sear II 6896

Macrinus, April 11, 217- June 8, 218
Denarius. 21-19 mm.
IMP C M OPEL SEV MACRINVS AVG
VOTA PVBL PM TRP
Securtias seated left holding scepter and supporting her head with left hand. Before her, a lighted altar.
Struck April 11-December 217 at Rome.
"Vota Publica" does not mention ten years.

These were vows taken at the beginning of his reign. The explicit date is "TRP" for his first year.

Severus Alexander, 222-235
19 mm. 3.08 grams.
Stuck 231 at Rome
VICTORIA AVGVSTI
Victory right inscribing shield VOT X
her foot on a helmet
Sear 7932 "230, Rome". RIC 219 "Scarce, 228-231."
BMC 638 "issue 11, AD 230"

[Repeated from the main page]

Vows are sometimes recorded by a single Victory inscribing a shield.
An as of Severus Alexander (222-235). 26-24 mm. (Holed and plugged at 12:00.)
IMP SEV ALEXANDER AVG
PM TRP VIIII COS III PP
Victory inscribing VOT X on a shield.
TRP VIIII shows this coin was struck in regnal year 9, not year 10, but the situation is confused by his having been appointed Caesar in 221, the year before he became Augustus. Maybe the vows mentioned were vows taken when he became Caesar.

More about the Ceremony. A military calendar was uncovered at Dura Europos on the Euphrates river in Mesopotamia which records that January 3 was a holiday for "vows fulfilled and offered for the preservation of our lord Marcus Aurelius Severus Alexander Augustus and for the eternity of the Roman people" with sacrifices and prayers "to Jupiter, best and greatest, an ox; to Juno, a cow; to Minerva, a cow." [Wilken, p. 57]

[Repeated from the main page]

IMP MAXIMINVS PIVS AVG
VOTIS/DECENNA/LIBVS (vows for ten years) in a wreath.
20-19 mm. RIC 17 (Rome mint). Sear 8319. BMC 39. Reka Devnia: Among 1721 coins of Maximian only 1 was of this type.
These vows for ten years must be suscepta because he did not last enough for them to be soluta.

This denarius of Maximinus Thrax (235-238), the Giant, was one of his first issues, probably within a few months of becoming emperor. We can date it by its "early" portrait which resembles that of the previous emperor, Severus Alexander. That portrait was soon superseded when Rome learned more about what he actually looked like. (For the dating of this early style, see Maximinus Thrax, the Giant.)

Trebonianus Gallus, 251-253.
24-22 mm.
IMP CAE C VIB TREB GALLVS AVG
VOTIS/DECENNA/LIBIS in wreath

Sear III 9659 "251". RIC 49 "R2" plate 13.14 same reverse die.
Very rare.

Once again we see a 10-year type that must have been issued at the beginning of the reign.

Vota coins with numbered years are rare from the middle of the third century until the first tetrarchy. The next vota coin is not numbered and the coins following it are rare.

Valerian, 253-260
24-22 mm. 4.02 grams
VOTA ORBIS around
two Victories supporting shield with "SC" on a palm tree

RIC 295 "S, 255-256"
Sear III 9996

[Repeated from the main page]

Gallienus. 253-268.
22-21 mm. e

GALLIENVS AVG
VOTA DECENNALIA around
Victory inscribing shield on palm tree, P in field left

RIC V.I 540 Struck 262-263 at Mediolanum

Very rare.
Cunetio 1352-4 had 11 examples with this legend, none with the "P", among 14,429 coins of Gallienus and Salonina

Probus, 276-282
22-21 mm. 4.09 grams.
VIRTVS PROBI AVG, helmeted bust left with spear and shield
VOTIS/X ET XX/FEL in wreath

Sear III 12077, "AD 277".
RIC V.II 459 "Ticinum, 277." "R2." Very rare.