Lot 4407

AR Denarius (Rome AD 202, 3.42 g) - SEVERVS PIVS AVG Laureate head right / LAETITIA TEMPORVM Interior scene of the Circus Maximus with central ship to left, four quadrigas racing left around, below, left to right, ostrich, lion, lioness, horse rearing right, bull left, panther, head reverted (RIC 274 / RSC 253) - a.XF-VF, a very rare and desirable coin. This famous denarius commemorates the chariot races and animal hunt that took place on the seventh and final day of Severus' Saecular Games in 204 AD. The games consisted of chariot races, indicated by the racing quadrigas in the the coin type, and then a hunt of 700 beasts, 100 each of 'lions, lionesses, panthers, bears, bisons, wild asses, ostriches', which were released in large groups from a receptacle shaped like a boat.