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Serdica AE21 Varbanov 153 of Caracalla

Caracalla AE21 of Serdica, Thrace. AVT K M AVP CEV ANTWNINOC, laureate head right / CEPDWN, infant Hercules wresting snakes.

Lot No.2552. nVF, a rare and unusual Hercules type!

$ 275.

Hercules, Herakles to the Greeks, was the son of Jupiter and Alcmene. His jealous stepmother, Juno, tried to murder the infant Hercules by putting serpents in his cradle. Luckily for Hercules, he was born with great strength and killed the serpents.

Sculpture in the Capitoline Museum in Rome

Caracalla (ruled 188-217 AD) was the nickname of the Roman emperor who ruled as Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. Originally named Bassianus, he was born in Gaul, and was nicknamed Caracalla because he introduced into Roman fashion a long cloak or tunic from Gaul called the caracalla. When his father, Septimius Severus, died in 211, Caracalla became joint emperor with his younger brother, Publius Septimius Geta. In 212 Caracalla became sole emperor after murdering Geta in their mother's arms, and arranging the massacre of thousands of Geta's followers.

Caracalla's reign was marked by cruelty, extravagance, and treachery, but he followed his father's advice to treat the soldiers well, and he was well loved by the army. He increased their pay and introduced the double denarius, also known as the Antoninianus in his honor, presumeably to facilitate this military pay raise.

On his birthday, April 4th, 217 AD, while campaigning against the Parthians, as he stopped to empty his bladder on the road to Carrhae, he fell victim to a plot engineered by Macrinus, who was Praetorian Prefect. He was assassinated by one Julius Martialis, who bore a grudge against Caracalla for having passed him over for promotion to centurion, and Macrinus immediate seized power.