AE Sestertius, A.D. 231-235, Rome, 30mm, 22.80g, 0°, RIC IVii 648c.
Obv: IMP ALEXANDER PIVS AVG. Laureate, draped bust right.
Rev: SPES PVBLICA. Spes advancing left, holding flower and raising skirt; S C in field.
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Marcus Aurelius Severus Alexander was Roman Emperor from 222 to 235. Not counting the usurpation of Uranius Antoninus, he was the last emperor of the Severan dynasty. Severus Alexander succeeded his cousin Elagabalus upon the latter's assassination in 222 who had been murdered along with his mother by his own guards, and as a mark of contempt, had their remains cast into the Tiber river. He and his cousin were both grandsons of the influential and powerful Julia Maesa, who had arranged for Elagabalus' acclamation as emperor by the famed Third Gallic Legion.

As emperor, Alexander's peace time reign was prosperous. Alexander’s reign contained some of the last major building works constructed in Rome before the reign of Diocletian. The last of the eleven great aqueducts, the aqua Alexandrina, was put into service in 226; he also rebuilt the Thermae of Nero and renamed it the Thermae Alexandrinae. In religious matters Alexander preserved an open mind. It is said that he was interested in erecting a temple to the founder of Christianity, but was dissuaded by the pagan priests. He allowed a synagogue to be built in Rome, and he gave as a gift to this synagogue a scroll of the Torah known as the Severus Scroll. Alexander faced a major conflict with the growing Sassanid Empire; the details of which contain mixed accounts, though the Persian threat was checked, there are several accounts of setbacks and defeats.

While campaigning against Germanic tribes of Germania, Alexander apparently alienated his legions by engaging in diplomacy and bribery, and they assassinated him. The death of Alexander is considered as the end of the Principate system established by Augustus. Although the Principate continued in theory until the reign of Diocletian, Severus Alexander's death signaled the beginning of the chaotic period known as the Crisis of the Third Century which brought the empire to near collapse.