<— Last coin ----------     What I Like About Ancient Coins     ---------- Next coin —>
Last coin thumbnail   Next coin thumbnail

A silver denarius of the emperor Caracalla with a reverse showing the Emperor as a heroic figure Coin Type: Toned silver denarius of Caracalla, Caesar Dec 195 - 28 Jan 198 CE, Augustus 28 Jan 198 - 8 Apr 217 CE.
Mint and Date: Rome, 199-210 CE
Size and Weight: 18mm, 3.18g
Obverse: ANTONINVS AVGVSTVS
Laureate, draped bust right, seen from behind.
Reverse: RECTORI ORBIS
Caracalla (as Alexander the Great?), naked except for cloak falling over left shoulder, standing facing, head left, globe held at chest height in right hand, sword sheathed at left hip, reversed spear in left hand.
Provenance: callisto2uk (eBay), March 2006
Ref: RCV (2002) 6881; RIC 40; BMCRE V p.186, 167-168.
BW Ref: 017 024 083
Click on the picture for a larger scale view of the coin

Note: RIC IV describes this reverse figure as Sol, and the BMCRE says "Caracalla (as Sol), radiate," but the examples I can find, including the BMCRE plate coin, do not support this description. The figure is laureate, not radiate. It was suggested by Curtis Clay that it might represent Caracalla as Alexander the Great; following the capture of Ctesiphon two years earlier by Caracalla and his father Septimius Severus, he could represent himself as the conqueror of the East.


The content of this page was last updated on 21 January 2008