AE Follis AE1, A.D. 306-307, Aquileia, 28mm, 7.36g, 180°, RIC VI 80b; rare.
Obv: IMP C SEVERVS PF AVG. Laureate head right.
Rev: VIRTVS AVGG ET CAESS NN. Severus riding horse right, spearing barbarian; second barbarian lying on ground.
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Flavius Valerius Severus Augustus, also known as Severus II, was a Western Roman Emperor from 306 to 307. Severus was of humble birth, born in the Illyrian provinces around the middle of the third century AD. He rose to become a senior officer in the Roman army. He was a close friend of the emperor Galerius, who appointed Severus as Caesar to Constantius I (Constantius Chlorus). On the death of Constantius I in the summer of 306, Severus was promoted to Augustus by Galerius himself, in opposition to the acclamation of Constantine I (Constantius' son) by his own soldiers.

When Maxentius, the son of the retired emperor Maximian, revolted at Rome, Galerius sent Severus to suppress the rebellion. Severus moved from his capital, Mediolanum, towards Rome, at the head of an army previously commanded by Maximian. Fearing the arrival of Severus, Maxentius offered Maximian the co-rule of the empire. Maximian accepted, and when Severus arrived under the walls of Rome and besieged it, his men deserted him and passed to Maximian, their old commander. Severus fled to Ravenna, an impregnable position: Maximian offered to spare his life and treat him humanely if the latter surrendered peaceably, which he did in March or April 307. Despite Maximian's assurance, Severus was nonetheless displayed as a captive and later imprisoned at Tres Tabernae. When Galerius himself invaded Italy to suppress Maxentius and Maximian, the former ordered Severus's death: he was executed (or forced to commit suicide) on 16 September 307.