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Caracalla
–
Roman Emperor
: 198-217 A.D. –
Silver Denarius 19mm (3.17 grams) Rome mint: 206 A.D.
Reference: RIC 81, S 6859, C 421
ANTONINVSPIVSAVG – Laureate, draped bust right.
PONTIFTRPVIIICOSII – Mars standing left, resting hand on shield and holding
spear.
You are bidding on the exact item pictured,
provided with a Certificate of Authenticity and Lifetime Guarantee of
Authenticity.
Mars was the
Roman
god of war
, the son of
Juno
and
Jupiter
, husband of
Bellona
, and the lover of
Venus
. He was the most prominent of the
military
gods that were
 worshipped
by the
Roman legions
. The martial Romans considered him second in importance only
to Jupiter (their main god). His
festivals
were held in
March
(named for
him) and October. As the word Mars has no
Indo-European
derivation, it is most likely the
Latinised
form of the agricultural
Etruscan
god Maris
. Initially Mars was a Roman god of
fertility
and vegetation
and a protector of cattle, fields and boundaries and farmers. In
the second century BC, the conservative
Cato the Elder
advised “For your cattle, for them to be healthy, make this
sacrifice to Mars Silvanus you must make this sacrifice each year”.
Mars later became associated with battle as the growing
Roman
Empire
began to expand, and he came to be identified with the
Greek
god Ares
.
Unlike his Greek counterpart, Mars was generally revered and rivaled Jupiter as
the most honoured god. He was also the
tutelary
god of the city of Rome. As he was regarded as the legendary father
of Rome’s founder,
Romulus
, it was believed that all Romans were descendants of Mars.
Caracalla (Latin:
Marcus Aurelius Severus Antoninus Augustus;4
April 188 – 8 April 217) was
Roman emperor
from 198 to 217 The eldest
son of
Septimius Severus
, for a short time he
ruled jointly with his younger brother
Geta
until he had him murdered in 211.
Caracalla is remembered as one of the most notorious and unpleasant of
emperors because of the massacres and persecutions he authorized and
instigated throughout the Empire.
Caracalla’s reign was also notable for the
Constitutio Antoniniana
(also called
the Edict of Caracalla), granting
Roman citizenship
to all freemen throughout
the Roman Empire
, which according to historian
Cassius Dio
, was done for the purposes of
raising tax revenue. He is also one of the emperors who commissioned a large
public bath-house (thermae)
in Rome. The remains of the
Baths of Caracalla
are still one of the
major tourist attractions of the Italian capital.
The
Severan Tondo
Early life
|
O:
laureate
draped bust of young
Caracalla
ANTONINVS
_AVGVSTVS
|
R:
Felicitas
holding
caduceus
and
cornucopia
FELICI_TAS
AVGG
|
|
silver
denarius
struck in
Rome
200; ref.: RIC 35 |
Caracalla, of mixed
Punic
–Roman
and Syrian
descent, was born Lucius Septimius
Bassianus in
Lugdunum
,
Gaul
(now
Lyon
,
France
), the son of the later Emperor
Septimius Severus and
Julia Domna
. At the age of seven, his name
was changed to Marcus Aurelius Septimius Bassianus Antoninus to create a
connection to the family of the philosopher emperor
Marcus Aurelius
. He was later given the
Caracallanickname
,
which referred to the Gallic hooded tunic he habitually wore and which he
made fashionable.
Reign (211)
Murder of
brother (211)
His father died in 211 at
Eboracum
(now
York
) while on campaign in northern
Britain. Caracalla was present and was then proclaimed emperor by the troops
along with his brother
Publius Septimius Antoninus Geta
. Caracalla
suspended the
campaign in Caledonia
and soon ended all
military activity, as both brothers wanted to be sole ruler thus making
relations between them increasingly hostile. When they tried to rule the
Empire jointly they actually considered dividing it in halves, but were
persuaded not to do so by their mother.
Then in December 211 at a reconciliation meeting arranged by their mother
Julia, Caracalla had Geta assassinated by members of the Praetorian Guard
loyal to himself, Geta dying in his mother’s arms. Caracalla then persecuted
and executed most of Geta’s supporters and ordered a
damnatio memoriae
pronounced by the
Senate against his brother’s memory.
Geta’s image was simply removed from all coinage, paintings and statues,
leaving a blank space next to Caracalla’s. Among those executed were his
former cousin-wife
Fulvia Plautilla
, his unnamed daughter with
Plautilla along with her brother and other members of the family of his
former father-in-law
Gaius Fulvius Plautianus
. Plautianus had
already been executed for alleged treachery against emperor Severus in 205.
About the time of his accession he ordered the
Roman currency
devalued, the silver purity
of the denarius
was decreased from 56.5% to 51.5%,
the actual silver weight dropping from 1.81 grams to 1.66 grams – though the
overall weight slightly increased. In 215 he introduced the
antoninianus
, a “double denarius”
weighing 5.1 grams and containing 2.6 grams of silver – a purity of 52%.
In the Roman
provinces
In 213, Caracalla went north to the German frontier to deal with the
Alamanni
tribesmen who were raiding in the
Agri Decumates
. The Romans did defeat the
Alamanni in battle near the river
Main
, but failed to win a decisive victory
over them. After a peace agreement was brokered and a large bribe payment
given to the invaders, the Senate conferred upon him the empty title of
Germanicus Maximus. He also acquired the surname Alemannicus at
this time. The following year the tyrant traveled to the East, to Syria and
Egypt never to return to Rome.
Gibbon
in his work describes Caracalla as
“the common enemy of mankind”. He left the capital in 213, about a year
after the murder of Geta, and spent the rest of his reign in the provinces,
particularly those of the East. He kept the Senate and other wealthy
families in check by forcing them to construct, at their own expense,
palaces, theaters, and places of entertainment throughout the periphery. New
and heavy taxes were levied against the bulk of the population, with
additional fees and confiscations targeted at the wealthiest families.
When the inhabitants of
Alexandria
heard Caracalla’s claims that he
had killed Geta in self-defense, they produced a satire mocking this as well
as Caracalla’s other pretensions. In 215, Caracalla savagely responded to
this insult by slaughtering the deputation of leading citizens who had
unsuspectingly assembled before the city to greet his arrival, and then
unleashed his troops for several days of looting and plunder in Alexandria.
According to historian Cassius Dio, over 20,000 people were killed.[citation
needed]
Domestic Roman
policy
Affiliation
with the army
During his reign as emperor, Caracalla raised the annual pay of an
average legionary to 675
denarii
and lavished many benefits on
the army which he both feared and admired, as instructed by his father
Septimius Severus who had told him on his deathbed to always mind the
soldiers and ignore everyone else. Caracalla did manage to win the trust of
the military with generous pay rises and popular gestures, like marching on
foot among the ordinary soldiers, eating the same food, and even grinding
his own flour with them.
With the soldiers, “He forgot even the proper dignity of his rank,
encouraging their insolent familiarity,” according to Gibbon. “The vigour of
the army, instead of being confirmed by the severe discipline of the camps,
melted away in the luxury of the cities.”
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O:
laureate
head of Caracalla
ANTONINVS
PIVS
AVG
GERM
|
R:
Sol
holding
globe
, rising hand
P M
TR P
_XVIIII
COS
IIII
P P
|
|
silver
denarius
struck in
Rome
216; ref.: RIC 281b, C 359 |
His official portraiture marks a break with the detached images of the
philosopher–emperors who preceded him: his close-cropped haircut is that of
a soldier, his pugnacious scowl a realistic and threatening presence. This
rugged soldier–emperor iconic archetype was adopted by most of the following
emperors who depended on the support of the troops to rule, like his
eventual successor
Maximinus Thrax
.
Seeking to secure his own legacy, Caracalla also commissioned one of
Rome’s last major architectural achievements, the
Baths of Caracalla
, the 2nd largest public
baths ever built in ancient Rome. The main room of the baths was larger than
St. Peter’s Basilica
, and could easily
accommodate over 2,000 Roman citizens at one time. The bath house opened in
216, complete with libraries, private rooms and outdoor tracks. Internally
it was lavishly decorated with gold-trimmed marble floors, columns, mosaics
and colossal statuary.
Edict of
Caracalla (212)
The
Constitutio Antoniniana
(Latin:
“Constitution [or Edict] of Antoninus”) (also called Edict of Caracalla)
was an edict issued in 212 by Caracalla which declared that all free men in
the Roman Empire were to be given full Roman citizenship and all free women
in the Empire were given the same rights as Roman women.
Before 212, for the most part only inhabitants of Italia held full Roman
citizenship. Colonies of Romans established in other provinces, Romans (or
their descendants) living in provinces, the inhabitants of various cities
throughout the Empire, and small numbers of local nobles (such as kings of
client countries) held full citizenship also. Provincials, on the other
hand, were usually non-citizens, although many held the
Latin Right
.
The Roman Historian
Cassius Dio
contended that the sole
motivation for the edict was a desire to increase state revenue.At the time
aliens did not have to pay most taxes that were required of citizens, so
although nominally Caracalla was elevating their legal status, he was more
importantly expanding the Roman tax base. The effect of this was to remove
the distinction that citizenship had held since the foundation of Rome and
as such the act had a profound effect upon the fabric of Roman society.[16]
War with Parthia
According to the historian Herodian, in 216, Caracalla tricked the
Parthians into believing that he accepted a marriage and peace proposal, but
then had the bride and guests slaughtered after the wedding celebrations.
The thereafter ongoing conflict and skirmishes became known as the
Parthian war of Caracalla
.
Assassination
(217)
The Roman Empire during the reign of Caracalla.
While travelling from
Edessa
to continue the war with
Parthia
, he was assassinated while
urinating at a roadside near
Carrhae
on 8 April 217 (4 days after his
29th birthday), by Julius Martialis, an officer of his personal bodyguard.
Herodian
says that Martialis’ brother had
been executed a few days earlier by Caracalla on an unproven charge; Cassius
Dio, on the other hand, says that Martialis was resentful at not being
promoted to the rank of centurion. The escort of the emperor gave him
privacy to relieve himself, and Martialis then ran forward and killed
Caracalla with a single sword stroke. While attempting to flee, the bold
assassin was then quickly dispatched by a Scythian archer of the Imperial
Guard.
Caracalla was succeeded by his
Praetorian Guard Prefect
,
Macrinus
, who (according to Herodian) was
most probably responsible for having the emperor assassinated.
His nickname
According to
Aurelius Victor
in his Epitome de
Caesaribus, the
agnomen
“Caracalla” refers to a Gallic
cloak
that Caracalla adopted as a personal
fashion, which spread to his army and his court. Cassius Dio and the
Historia Augusta
agree that his
nickname was derived from his cloak, but do not mention its country of
origin.
Legendary king
of Britain
Geoffrey of Monmouth
‘s legendary
History of the Kings of Britain
makes
Caracalla a king of Britain, referring to him by his actual name “Bassianus”,
rather than the nickname Caracalla. In the story, after Severus’s death the
Romans wanted to make Geta king of Britain, but the Britons preferred
Bassianus because he had a British mother. The two brothers fought a battle
in which Geta was killed and Bassianus succeeded to the throne. He ruled
until he was betrayed by his
Pictish
allies and overthrown by
Carausius
, who, according to Geoffrey, was
a Briton, rather than the historically much later
Menapian
Gaul that he actually was.
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