The INDVLGENTIA
denarii add something new, which was unknown before 1988 so is absent from the
standard catalogues: a
rare and obviously very short-lived earliest version of the first
type, with Dea Caelestis looking front and holding drum, but without the words IN CARTH in
exergue!
A
denarius of
Caracalla with this
type first appeared in Münzzentrum Köln 64, 1988, Meyer-Coloniensis 3, lot 406; my bid was unfortunately not high enough to secure the coin. Around 2000, however, I did manage to acquire the second-known specimen of the
type, shown below, this time coupled with an
obverse of Septimius, and struck from a different
reverse die. Note the little ground line below the lion's
hind legs, another apparently early feature, in addition to the short
legend, which was eliminated from all three of the later versions of the
type.
Apparently the
mint had second thoughts about the comprehensibility of the
type: after initially assuming that the mere figure of Dea Caelestis would adequately specify
Carthage as the recipient of the emperors'
generosity, the designers soon decided to remove any question by naming the recipient in words, IN CARTH.
The
corrected version of the first
type, goddess holding drum with IN CARTH added in
exergue, is
rare on
denarii: the
Reka Devnia hoard contained only three such
denarii for Septimius, and none for
Caracalla. Indeed, I have never seen a
denarius of
Caracalla with this
reverse type, not in any museum or private
collection,
nor on the market, though I have been searching diligently for decades! Since the same
type is known on a
denarius of
Caracalla without IN CARTH (see above), and since the
type with IN CARTH is attested on Caracalla's
sestertii,
dupondii,
asses, and
aurei, there seems little doubt that such a
denarius with IN CARTH was struck and will eventually turn up.
The short duration of the first INDVLGENTIA
type, as indicated by its
rarity on
denarii, suggests that it was a designing error: the drum was the proper attribute of
Cybele riding on a
lion, but not of Dea Caelestis, so it was soon replaced by her proper
thunderbolt. No wonder the
mint had felt it necessary to add IN CARTH to the original short
legend: the original
rev. type with drum might seem to indicate
Asia Minor rather than
Carthage!
The second and third versions of the INDVLGENTIA
type, in which the goddess holds a
thunderbolt and looks first front, then right, are both common on
denarii for both emperors. The
Reka Devnia hoard contained 198 specimens of the two
types together for Septimius, and 94 specimens of both
types for
Caracalla; unfortunately the
head front and
head right coins were not distinguished in Mouchmov's publication of the
hoard, as also in most other
hoard publications, because
Cohen and
RIC do not separate these two varieties. We have no reason to doubt that, as on the bronze coins, the first and second versions of the INDVLGENTIA
type on the
denarii belong to 203 AD, and the third version to 204 AD.
Almost all INDVLGENTIA
denarii have the
standard obv. types, SEVERVS
PIVS AVG,
Head laureate r., for Septimius, and ANTONINVS
PIVS AVG,
Bust laureate, draped r., or occasionally laureate, draped,
cuirassed r., for
Caracalla. A few
rare exceptions occur, however, in each case coupled with the third
reverse type, goddess holding
thunderbolt and looking right:
1. A unique
denarius of Septimius in my
collection with the normal
obv. legend, but
his bust draped and laureate, shown below.
2. A very
rare denarius of
Caracalla with normal
obv. legend, but long-necked laureate
portrait omitting the drapery, not yet in the BM or my
collection.
Vienna has a specimen.
3. A unique
denarius of Septimius in my
collection with the normal head-laureate
portrait type, but the dated
legend of the bronze coins, SEVERVS
PIVS AVG -
P M TR P XII, shown above as the fourth coin in the scan made from my plaster casts.
This is only the second-known
denarius of Septimius of any
type to show a dated
obv. legend, which was normally confined to the bronze coins and
aurei; the other is also of Septimius with the same TR P
XII date, but from a different
obv. die and with the Saecular Games
rev. type DI PATRII,
Hercules and
Liber standing, recently auctioned by
CNG from the
Robert Kutcher
collection. I competed for that coin but was outbid!
Thanks to Susan Headley for producing all of the scans of actual coins, casts, and
BMC plate images in my three contributions to this
thread.