Julia Maesa was a member of the Severan dynasty of the Roman Empire who was the grandmother of emperors Elagabalus and Severus Alexander, elder sister of empress Julia Domna, and mother of Julia Soaemias and Julia Mamaea. She wielded influence during the reigns of her grandsons as Augusta of the Empire from 218 to her death, especially on their elevation to emperors.
Roman empress Julia Domna, Maesa's sister, committed suicide after the murder of her son Caracalla.
Head of Julia Meza, silver, National History Museum, Sofia
Head of Elagabalus
Bust of Severus Alexander
The Severan dynasty, sometimes called the Septimian dynasty, was an Ancient Roman imperial dynasty that ruled the Roman Empire between 193 and 235, during the Roman imperial period. The dynasty was founded by the emperor Septimius Severus, who rose to power after the Year of the Five Emperors as the victor of the civil war of 193–197, and his wife, Julia Domna. After the short reigns and assassinations of their two sons, Caracalla and Geta, who succeeded their father in the government of the empire, Julia Domna's relatives themselves assumed power by raising Elagabalus and then Severus Alexander to the imperial office.
The Libyan emperor Septimius Severus, the founder of the Severan dynasty
Caracalla and Geta, Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1907)
Dynastic aureus of Septimius Severus, minted in 202. The reverse feature the portraits of Geta (right), Julia Domna (centre), and Caracalla (left).
Aureus of Macrinus celebrating the "generosity of the emperor" (LIBERALITAS AVG)