Aureus (Coin) Portraying Emperor Caracalla

Arts of the Ancient Mediterranean and Byzantium

204 (January-April), issued by Septimius Severus

Roman, minted in Rome

The front (obverse) of this coin portrays the profile head of Emperor Caracalla facing right, laureate, and wearing a cuirass(body armor) and paludamentum (military cloak). The back (reverse) shows the deity Victory, partly draped, advancing left, and holding a wreath and palm.

This coin showing the 16 year old prince was issued by his father, Emperor Septimius Severus. The inscription details the honor (Pontifex - “priest”) and powers (Tribunitian) that the emperor had granted to his son six years earlier. The reverse image shows a winged Victory offering a wreath and palm frond to celebrate the emperor’s “Great Parthian Victory”, spelled out in the inscription.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Arts of the Ancient Mediterranean and Byzantium

Culture: Ancient Roman
Title: Aureus (Coin) Portraying Emperor Caracalla
Place: Rome (Minted in)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 204 CE
Medium: Gold
Inscriptions: Obverse: ANTON.P.AVG PON TR P VII "Antoninus Pius Augustus, Pontif, holding Tribunican Power for Seventh Time" Reverse: VICT PART.MAX "Great Parthian Victory"
Dimensions: Diam.: 2.1 cm (7/8 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Martin A. Ryerson
Reference Number: 1922.4884
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/5667/manifest.json

Theresa Gross-Diaz, “Roman Art” in Museum Studies: Ancient Art at the Art Institute of Chicago 20, no. 1 (1994), pp. 76-77 (ill.), no. 56.
Karen B. Alexander, “From Plaster to Stone: Ancient Art at the Art Institute of Chicago,” in Karen Manchester, Recasting the Past: Collecting and Presenting Antiquities at the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012), p. 29.
Theresa Gross-Diaz, “Cat. 61 Aureus Portraying Caracalla: Curatorial Entry,” in Roman Art at the Art Institute of Chicago (Art Institute of Chicago, 2016).
https://publications.artic.edu/roman/reader/romanart/section/548

Art Institute of Chicago, Ancient Art Galleries, Gallery 156, April 20, 1994 - February 6, 2012.

Martin A. Ryerson (1856-1932), Chicago; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1922.

Cat. 61 Aureus (Coin) Portraying Emperor Caracalla, A.D. 204

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