[2] Through conjecture, it is possible to assume that Severina came either from Dacia or one of the other Danubian provinces, as the nomen Ulpia had been common there ever since the conquests of Emperor Trajan (Marcus Ulpius Trajanus).

[1] It has historically been assumed that Severina was the daughter of a man by the name Ulpius Crinitus,[1][2][3] a figure that appears in the Historia Augusta as a paragon of military and senatorial virtue, a descendant of Trajan and the adoptive father of Aurelian.

However, Ulpius Crinitus's existence is perhaps an invention of the Historia Augusta, given that contemporary evidence gleaned from inscriptions and coins does not mention him.

[5] The only reliable evidence in regards to Severina at all is a scant number of inscriptions and coins, which confirms that she was Aurelian's wife and that she held the title of Augusta.

On the coins, Severina is depicted in a typical way for her time, with braided hair drawn up over the back of her head and an austere expression.

[9] Aurelian died in September or October 275,[10] murdered by his own officers after his secretary, afraid of being punished for a small lie, convinced them that the emperor intended to put them to death.

According to their accounts, this period consisted of the army in Thrace, worried as they were complicit in Aurelian's murder, and the Roman Senate repeatedly petitioning each other to elect a successor.

If accounting for the time it took for the news of Aurelian's death to reach Italy, and the information to spread out into the empire from there, the interval of the supposed interregnum is very brief.

[5] According to the numismatist David L. Vagi, Severina ruling the empire for an extended interregnum "does not appear to be based in historical fact", though her coins may have been issued at a few mints in the weeks between Aurelian's death and Tacitus's accession.

That it is the singular AVG (Augusta/Augustus) used rather than the plural AVGG (Augusti) is a striking detail that may perhaps hint at them being minted at a time when Severina was the sole ruler.