ROMAN EMPIRE

Caracalla was the son of Emperor Septimius Severus, who had ended the crisis that arose after the assassination of Commodus by establishing a new stable government (193-211), which he sought to legitimise by being posthumously adopted by Marcus Aurelius (195). With this support and his victories, he established a new dynasty, appointing his sons as co-emperors: first Caracalla in 198, and later Geta in 209. However, in the same year as his father’s death, Caracalla’s attempt at joint rule failed, leading him to order the assassination of his brother and becoming the sole ruler (211-217). His reign is mainly remembered for the Antonine Constitution (212), which granted full Roman citizenship to all free men of the Empire, alongside the construction of Rome’s renowned thermae. However, the increasing power of the military, coupled with their rising wages, led to a significant monetary crisis, resulting in the introduction of the antoninianus coin in 215. The coin up for auction here belongs to this period, coinciding with the start of the emperor's campaign against the Parthians, where he was ultimately killed by a soldier angered at not having been promoted (217). This sestertius depicts the emperor in military costume on the reverse, wielding a spear and stepping on a crocodile, while receiving homage from Isis, who holds her divine attributes in her hands. It's noteworthy that Caracalla spent several months in Alexandria from late 215 to spring 216, prior to embarking on the Parthian campaign, driven by his well-known aspiration to emulate Alexander the Great.