CARACALLA Odessos in Thrace Rare Ancient Roman Coin Great God of Odessos i45426

Caracalla –
Roman Emperor: 198-217 A.D. –
Bronze 24mm (6.26 grams) Struck in the Roman provincial city of Odessos
in the province 
of Thrace –
AVT K M AVP CC OVHPOC ANTΩHIHO –  Laureate head right.
OΔHCCEITΩN, Great God of Odessos standing left, sacrificing from patera over 
flaming altar
 to left & holding corucopia. –

Odessos, an ancient Greek (of the 
city of Miletus) trading colony (apoikia), was founded about 570 BC (in the time 
of Astyages) on the site of an older Thracian settlement on Cape Varna (in the 
modern city centre). The name Odessos, first mentioned by Strabo, was pre-Greek, 
perhaps of Carian origin. Long before the Thracians populated the area (by 1200 
BC), prehistoric settlements best known for the eneolithic necropolis, eponymous 
site of the Varna culture and the alleged world’s oldest gold treasure (5th 
millennium BC radiocarbon dating) existed within the modern city limits, notably 
along Lake Varna shores. For centuries, Odessos was a contact zone between the 
urban Ionians and the Thracians (Getae, Crobyzi, Terizi) of the hinterland. By 
the 4th century BC, it had become a mixed Greco-Thracian community (see also 
Darzalas).

In 339, the city was unsuccessfully besieged by Philip II but surrendered to 
Alexander the Great in 335, and was later ruled by his diadochus Lysimachus. The 
Roman city, Odessus (annexed in 15 AD and included in the province of Moesia, 
later Moesia Inferior), occupied 47 hectares in present-day central Varna and 
had prominent public baths, Thermae, erected in the late 2nd century, now the 
largest Roman remains in Bulgaria (the building was 100 m wide, 70 m long, and 
20 m high) and fourth largest known Roman baths in Europe. The city was a 
Christian centre, as testified by the impressive ruins of early basilicas, 
monasteries, and indications that apostle Ampliatus (Амплий, Amply), disciple of 
Saint Andrew, served as bishop there. In 442, a peace treaty between Theodosius 
II and Attila was done at Odessus.

You are bidding on the exact item pictured, 
provided with a Certificate of Authenticity and Lifetime Guarantee of 
Authenticity.

The cornucopia (from Latin cornu copiae) or horn of plenty 
is a symbol of abundance and nourishment, commonly a large horn-shaped container 
overflowing with produce, flowers, nuts, other edibles, or wealth in some form. 
Originating in
classical antiquity, it has continued as a 
symbol in
Western art, and it is particularly associated 
with the
Thanksgiving holiday in
North America.

Allegorical depiction of the Roman 
goddess
Abundantia with a cornucopia, by
Rubens (ca. 1630)

In Mythology

Mythology offers multiple
explanations of the origin of the cornucopia. 
One of the best-known involves the birth and nurturance of the infant
Zeus, who had to be hidden from his devouring father
Cronus. In a cave on
Mount Ida on the island of
Crete, baby Zeus was cared for and protected by 
a number of divine attendants, including the goat
Amalthea (“Nourishing Goddess”), who fed him 
with her milk. The suckling future king of the gods had unusual abilities and 
strength, and in playing with his nursemaid accidentally broke off one of her
horns, which then had the divine power to 
provide unending nourishment, as the foster mother had to the god.

In another myth, the cornucopia was created when
Heracles (Roman
Hercules) wrestled with the river god
Achelous and wrenched off one of his horns; 
river gods were sometimes depicted as horned. This version is represented in the

Achelous and Hercules
mural painting by the
American Regionalist artist
Thomas Hart Benton.

The cornucopia became the attribute of several
Greek and
Roman deities, particularly those associated 
with the harvest, prosperity, or spiritual abundance, such as personifications 
of Earth (Gaia 
or
Terra); the child
Plutus, god of riches and son of the grain 
goddess 
Demeter; the
nymph
Maia; and
Fortuna, the goddess of luck, who had the power 
to grant prosperity. In
Roman Imperial cult, abstract Roman deities who 
fostered peace (pax 
Romana) and prosperity were also depicted with a cornucopia, 
including 
Abundantia, “Abundance” personified, and
Annona, goddess of the
grain supply to the city of Rome.
Pluto, the classical ruler of the underworld in 
the
mystery religions, was a giver of agricultural, 
mineral and spiritual wealth, and in art often holds a cornucopia to distinguish 
him from the gloomier 
Hades, who holds a
drinking horn instead.

Modern depictions

In modern depictions, the cornucopia is typically a hollow, horn-shaped 
wicker basket filled with various kinds of festive
fruit and
vegetables. In North America, the cornucopia 
has come to be associated with
Thanksgiving and the harvest. Cornucopia is 
also the name of the annual November Wine and Food celebration in
Whistler, British Columbia, Canada. Two 
cornucopias are seen in the
flag and
state seal of
Idaho. The Great
Seal of
North Carolina depicts Liberty standing and 
Plenty holding a cornucopia. The coat of arms of
Colombia,
Panama,
Peru and
Venezuela, and the Coat of Arms of the State of
Victoria, Australia, also feature the 
cornucopia, symbolising prosperity.

The horn of plenty is used on body art and at Halloween, as it is a symbol of 
fertility, fortune and abundance.

• 

  Base of a statue of
  Louis XV of France

In the
material culture of
classical antiquity, a phiale or
patera (Latin pronunciation: [ˈpatera]) 
is a shallow ceramic or metal
libation bowl. It often has a bulbous 
indentation (omphalos, 
“bellybutton”) in the center underside to facilitate holding it, in which case 
it is sometimes called a mesomphalic phiale. It typically has no handles, 
and no feet. (A drinking cup with handles is a
kylix. A circular platter with a pair of 
C-handles is not a patera, but a few paterae have a single long straight 
handle.) Although the two terms may be used interchangeably, particularly in the 
context of
Etruscan culture, phiale is more common 
in reference to Greek forms, and patera in a Roman setting.

• 

  Silver phiale (620-590 BC, from
  Bayindir village,
  Elmali, present-day Turkey
• 

  Octopus and dolphin motifs on a ceramic phiale (510-500 BC, from
  Eretria,
  Euboea)
• 

  Golden phiale (4th-3rd century BC)
• 

  Silver patera from
  Hispania (Roman 
  Spain), 2nd-1st century BC)

Use

A youth pours a libation to the deceased within a
naiskos, a scene that may also 
represent
Ganymede serving
Zeus (Apulian
red-figure
krater, 340-320 BC)

Libation was a central and vital aspect of
ancient Greek religion, and one of the simplest 
and most common forms of religious practice. It is one of the basic religious 
acts that define piety in ancient Greece, dating back to the
Bronze Age and even
prehistoric Greece. Libations were a part of 
daily life, and the pious might perform them every day in the morning and 
evening, as well as to begin meals. A libation most often consisted of mixed 
wine and water, but could also be unmixed wine, honey, oil, water, or milk.

The form of libation called spondē is typically the ritualized pouring 
of wine from a jug or bowl held in the hand. The most common ritual was to pour 
the liquid from an
oinochoē (wine jug) into a phiale. Libation 
generally accompanied prayer. The Greeks stood when they prayed, either with 
their arms uplifted, or in the act of libation with the right arm extended to 
hold the phiale. After the wine offering was poured from the phiale, the 
remainder of the contents was drunk by the celebrant.

In 
Roman art, the libation is shown performed at 
an
altar, mensa (sacrificial meal table), 
or
tripod. It was the simplest form of sacrifice, 
and could be a sufficient offering by itself. The introductory rite
(praefatio) to an animal sacrifice included an incense and wine libation 
onto a burning altar. Both
emperors and divinities are frequently 
depicted, especially on coins, pouring libations from a patera. Scenes of 
libation and the patera itself commonly signify the quality of
pietas, religious duty or reverence.

• 

  Libation at a
  symposium (Attic 
  red-figure cup, ca. 480 BC)
• 

  Apollo pouring a libation (Attic
  white-ground
  kylix, ca. 460 BC)
• 

  Etruscan priest with phiale (2nd century BC)
• 

  Roman priest,
  capite velato (2nd-3rd century 
  AD)

Antoninus (Called ‘Caracalla’)
Caesar: 
195-198 A.D.
Augustus: 198-217 A.D.
( 198-209 A.D. – with Septimius Severus)
( 209-211 A.D. – with Septimius Severus and Geta)
( 211-217 A.D. – Sole Reign)

Caracalla (April 
4, 
188
– 
April 8,
217. 
Caracallus ), born Lucius Septimius Bassianus and later called Marcus 
Aurelius Antoninus and Marcus Aurelius Severus Antoninus, was the 
eldest son of
Septimius Severus and
Roman Emperor from 211 to 217. He was one of 
the most nefarious of Roman emperors. Caracalla’s reign was notable for:

• the
  Constitutio Antoniniana, granting
  Roman citizenship to freemen throughout the
  Roman Empire, according to
  Cassius Dio in order to increase taxation;

• debasing the silver content in Roman coinage by 25 percent in 
  order to pay the legions; and

• the construction of a large
  thermae
  outside Rome, the remains of which, known as the
  Baths of Caracalla, can still be seen today
   

“Caracalla was the common enemy of all mankind,” wrote
Edward Gibbon. He spent his reign traveling 
from province to province so that each could experience his “rapine and 
cruelty.”

Caracalla’s real name was Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. He got the 
nickname from his habit of wearing a cloak by the same name. Caracalla was the 
elder son of Septimius Severus and brother of Geta whom he positively hated. 
Hated so much, in fact, that he had him murdered a few years later. In the 
mayhem that followed, Caracalla’s men went on a killing spree of anyone 
suspected of being a Geta sympathizer. In the massacre, it’s estimated up to 
20,000 people lost their lives. Caracalla would go on to rule for another five 
years but his bad karma caught up with him and he was assassinated in a plot 
perpetrated by Macrinus.

As an emperor Caracalla possessed few redeeming qualities and among the worst 
of them would be his ruinous drain on the treasury. Because he knew everyone 
hated him he sought the protection of the army. And the surest way of getting 
this protection was to buy it outright. He raised the pay of the solider to 
about four denarii per day, nearly quadrupling the salary of just a few years 
prior. And on top of their regular salary he heaped endless bonuses and other 
concessions meant to endear them. This money could only have come by the 
oppressive taxation of ordinary citizens as well as the seizures of property of 
the wealthy under trumped-up charges. This not only intensified the hatred 
against him but also had the effect of corrupting the military who had become 
accustomed to this life of luxury and throwing the economy into lasting 
disarray.

Rise to power

Caracalla, of mixed
Punic/Berber
and 
Syrian
Arab 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 solidify connection to the family of
Marcus Aurelius. He was later given the
nickname  
Caracalla, which referred to the Gallic hooded tunic he habitually wore 
and which he made fashionable.

His father, who had taken the imperial throne in 193, died in 
211 while touring the northern marches at
Eboracum (York), 
and Caracalla was proclaimed co-emperor with his brother
Publius Septimius Antoninius Geta. However since both of them wanted to be 
the sole ruler, tensions between the brothers were evident in the few months 
they ruled the empire together (they even considered dividing the empire in two, 
but were persuaded not to do so by their mother). In December 211, Caracalla had 
Geta, the family of his former father-in-law
Gaius Fulvius Plautianus, his wife
Fulvia Plautilla (also his paternal second cousin), and her brother 
assassinated. He persecuted Geta’s supporters and ordered a
damnatio memoriae by the Senate against his brother.

Reign

In 213 Caracalla went north to the German frontier to deal 
with the
Alamanni
who were causing trouble in the
Agri Decumates. The emperor managed to win the sympathy of the soldiers 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.

Caracalla defeated the Alamanni in a battle near the river
Main, but failed to 
win a decisive victory over them. After a peace agreement was brokered, the 
senate conferred upon him the title “Germanicus Maximus”. In the next year the 
emperor traveled to the East.

When the inhabitants of
Alexandria heard Caracalla’s claims that he had killed Geta in self-defense, 
they produced a satire mocking this claim, as well as Caracalla’s other 
pretensions. Caracalla responded to this insult savagely in 215 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.

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 to 
always mind the soldiers and ignore everyone else. His official portraiture 
marked 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. The rugged soldier-emperor iconic type was 
adopted by several of the following emperors who depended on the support of the 
legions, like
Trebonianus Gallus.^[11]

Seeking to secure his own legacy, Caracalla also commissioned 
one of Rome’s last major architectural achievements, the
Baths of Caracalla, the largest public bath 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 private rooms and 
outdoor tracks. Internally it was decorated with golden trim and mosaics.

Fall

While travelling from
Edessa to begin a war with
Parthia, he 
was assassinated while urinating at a roadside near
Harran on
April 8,
217 by Julius 
Martialis, an officer in the imperial 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 ran forward and 
killed Caracalla with a single sword stroke. He immediately fled on horseback, 
but was killed by a bodyguard archer.^{[citation 
needed]}

Caracalla was succeeded by the Praetorian Prefect of the 
Guard,
Macrinus, 
who almost certainly was part of the conspiracy against the emperor.

His nickname

According to
Aurelius Victor in his Epitome de Caesaribus, the
cognomen 
“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^[14]
agree that his nickname 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. 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
Menapian Gaul 
that he actually was.