AncientCoinArt.com Presents

Hadrianopolis AE27 Moushmov 2655 of Caracalla

Caracalla AE27 of Hadrianopolis, Thrace. AVT M AVPH ANTWNINOC, laureate bust right / ADRIANOPOLITWN, Hercules subduing the Hind of Ceryneia. Jurukova 268.

Lot No.1268. gVF and extremely rare.

$ 425. This coin represents the 3rd Labor of Hercules, capturing the Hind of Ceryneia, Diana's Pet Deer. Ceryneia is a town in Greece, about fifty miles from Eurystheus' palace in Mycenae. A hind is simply a female red deer. You'd think it would have been easy for a hero like Hercules to go shoot a deer and bring it back to Eurystheus, but a few problems made things complicated. This was a special deer, because it had golden horns and hoofs of bronze. Not only that, the deer was sacred to the goddess of hunting and the moon, Diana; she was Diana's special pet. That meant that Hercules could neither kill the deer nor hurt her. He couldn't risk getting Diana angry at him; he was already in enough trouble with Hera. Hercules set out on this adventure, and he hunted the deer for a whole year. At last, when the deer had become weary with the chase, she looked for a place to rest on a mountain called Artemisius, and then made her way to the river Ladon. Realizing that the deer was about to get away, Hercules shot her just as she was about to cross the stream. He caught the deer, put her on his shoulders and turned back to Mycenae. As Hercules hurried on his way, he was met by Diana and Apollo. Diana was very angry because Hercules tried to kill her sacred animal. She was about to take the deer away from Hercules, and surely she would have punished him, but Hercules told her the truth. He said that he had to obey the oracle and do the labors Eurystheus had given him. Diana let go of her anger and healed the deer's wound. Hercules carried it alive to Mycenae.

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.