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Caracalla - Roman Emperor: 198-211 A.D. -
Bronze 14mm (2.7 grams) Struck in the city of Hadrianopolis in THRACE 198-211
A.D.
AVT M AVP ANTΩNINO, laureate draped bust right.
AΔPIANOΠOΛEITΩN, Rod of Asclepius with medical symbol serpent entwined around.
You are bidding on the exact item pictured,
provided with a Certificate of Authenticity and Lifetime Guarantee of
Authenticity.
 The
rod of Asclepius (⚕; sometimes also spelled
Asklepios or Aesculapius), also known as the asklepian,[1]
is an ancient symbol associated with
astrology,
the Greek
god
Asclepius
and with
medicine and
healing. It consists of a
serpent entwined around a
staff. The name of the symbol derives from its early and widespread
association with
Asclepius,
the son of Apollo,
who was a practitioner of medicine in ancient
Greek mythology. His attributes, the snake and the staff, sometimes depicted
separately in antiquity, are combined in this symbol.[2]
The Rod of Asclepius also represents the constellation
Ophiuchus
(or Ophiuchus Serpentarius), the thirteenth sign of the
sidereal zodiac.
Hippocrates himself was a worshipper of Asclepius.[3]
Symbolism
The serpent and the staff appear to have been separate symbols that were
combined at some point in the development of the Asclepian cult.[4]
The significance of the serpent has been interpreted in many ways; sometimes the
shedding of skin and renewal is emphasized as symbolizing rejuvenation
[5],
while other assessments center on the serpent as a symbol that unites and
expresses the dual nature of the work of the physician, who deals with life and
death, sickness and health.[6]
The ambiguity of the serpent as a symbol, and the contradictions it is thought
to represent, reflect the ambiguity of the use of drugs[7],
which can help or harm, as reflected in the meaning of the term pharmakon,
which meant "drug", "medicine" and "poison" in ancient Greek[8];
we know that today antidotes and vaccines are often compounded from precisely
the thing that caused the poisoning or illness.
Products
deriving from the bodies of snakes were known to have medicinal properties
in ancient times, and in ancient Greece, at least some were aware that snake
venom that might be fatal if it entered the bloodstream could often be imbibed.
Snake venom appears to have been 'prescribed' in some cases as a form of
therapy.[9]
The staff has also been variously interpreted. One view is that it, like the
serpent, "conveyed notions of resurrection and healing", while another (not
necessarily incompatible) is that the staff was a walking stick associated with
itinerant physicians.[10]
Cornutus, a philosopher probably active in the first century CE, in the
Theologiae Graecae Compendium (Ch. 33) offers a view of the significance of
both snake and staff that is worth quoting at length:
Asclepius derived his name from healing soothingly and from deferring the
withering that comes with death. For this reason, therefore, they give him a
serpent as an attribute, indicating that those who avail themselves of
medical science undergo a process similar to the serpent in that they, as it
were, grow young again after illnesses and slough off old age; also because
the serpent is a sign of attention, much of which is required in medical
treatments. The staff also seems to be a symbol of some similar thing. For
by means of this it is set before our minds that unless we are supported by
such inventions as these, in so far as falling continually into sickness is
concerned, stumbling along we would fall even sooner than necessary.[11]
In any case the two symbols certainly merged in antiquity as representations
of the snake coiled about the staff are common. It has been claimed that the
snake wrapped around the staff was a species of rat snake,
Elaphe longissima.[12]
Astrological
connection
The two symbols were also associated with
astrology.
Asclepius was so skilled in the medical arts that he was reputed to have brought
patients back from the dead. For this, he was punished and placed in the heavens
as the
constellation
Ophiuchus
(meaning "serpent-bearer"). This constellation lies between
Sagittarius and
Scorpio.[13]
In
early Christianity, the constellation Ophiuchus was associated with
Saint Paul holding the Maltese Viper.
Alternative
theories of origin
There are alternative theories accounting for the origin and development of
the rod of Asclepius as a symbol. Because it can be difficult to trace the
ultimate origins of symbolism, it is possible that no single theory is correct
to the exclusion of others.
Biblical
A similar symbol,
Nehushtan,
is mentioned in the
Bible in the
Book of Numbers (Numbers 21:6).
Then the LORD sent poisonous serpents among the people,
and they bit the people, so that many Israelites died. The people came to
Moses and said, "We have sinned by speaking against the LORD
and against you; pray to the LORD to take away the serpents
from us." So Moses prayed for the people. And the LORD said
to Moses, "Make a poisonous serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who
is bitten shall look at it and live." So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and
put it upon a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would
look at the serpent of bronze and live.[14]
Worm
theory
It has been suggested that the symbol once represented a
worm wrapped around
a rod; parasitic worms such as the guinea worm (Dracunculus
medinensis) were common in ancient times, and were extracted from
beneath the skin by winding them slowly around a stick. According to this
theory, physicians might have advertised this common service by posting a sign
depicting a worm on a rod. However plausible, no concrete evidence in support of
this theory has been adduced.
[15]
Professional
usage
The American Medical Student Association logo features a rod of
Asclepius in its
logo
A number of organizations and services use the rod of Asclepius as their
logo, or part of their logo. These include:
Confusion
with the Caduceus
The
U.S. Army Medical Corps Branch Plaque. The 1902 adoption of
the
caduceus for U.S. Army medical officer uniforms erroneously
popularized the symbol throughout the medical field in the US.
The caduceus is sometimes used as a symbol for medicine or doctors (instead
of the rod of Asclepius) even though the symbol has no connection with
Hippocrates and any association with healing arts is something of a stretch;[16]
as the symbol of the god
Hermes, its
singularly inappropriate connotations of theft, deception, and death, as well as
the confusion of commerce and medicine in a single symbol, have provided fodder
for academic humor.[17]
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“ |
As god of the high-road and the market-place Hermes was perhaps above
all else the patron of commerce and the fat purse: as a corollary, he
was the special protector of the traveling salesman. As spokesman for
the gods, he not only brought peace on earth (occasionally even the
peace of death), but his silver-tongued eloquence could always make the
worse appear the better cause. From this latter point of view, would not
his symbol be suitable for certain Congressmen, all medical quacks, book
agents and purveyors of vacuum cleaners, rather than for the
straight-thinking, straight-speaking therapist? As conductor of the dead
to their subterranean abode, his emblem would seem more appropriate on a
hearse than on a physician's car.[18]
— Stuart Tyson, Scientific Monthly |
” |
Attempts have been made, however, to argue that the caduceus is appropriate
as a symbol of medicine or of medical practitioners. Apologists[19]
have suggested that the sign is appropriate for military medical personnel
because of the connotations of neutrality. Others have gathered and presented
attested associations between Hermes (or Mercury) and acts or circumstances
suggestive of the role of a healer.[20]
Widespread confusion regarding the supposed medical significance of the
caduceus appears to have arisen as a result of events in the United States in
the 19th century.[1]
It had appeared on the
chevrons of Army hospital stewards as early as 1856.[21]
In 1902 it was added to the uniforms of Army medical officers. The inconsistency
was noticed several years later by the
librarian to the Surgeon General, but the symbol was not changed.[1]
In 1901 the French periodical of military medicine was named La Caducée.
The caduceus was formally adopted by the
Medical Department of the
United States Army in 1902.[1]
After World War I the caduceus was employed as an emblem by both the Army
Medical Department and the
Navy Hospital Corps. The
United States Air Force's medical branch, the
United States Air Force Medical Service, has always used the rod of
Asclepius on its insignia. The American Medical Association used the caduceus
for a time but it was abandoned in 1912 after considerable discussion, and the
rod of Asclepius was adopted instead.
Further confusion was caused by the use of the caduceus as a printer's mark
(as Hermes was the god of eloquence and messengers); it appeared in many medical
textbooks as a printing mark and was subsequently mistaken for a medical symbol.[1]
A 1992 survey of American health organizations found that 62% of professional
associations used the rod of Asclepius, whereas in commercial organizations, 76%
used the caduceus.[22]
Standard
representation
The rod of Asclepius has a representation on the
Miscellaneous Symbols table of the
Unicode
Standard at U+2695 (⚕).
See
also
Caracalla (April
4, 188
–
April 8,
217.
Caracallus ), born Lucius Septimius Bassianus and later called Marcus
 Aurelius Antoninus and Marcus Aurelius Severus Antoninus, was the
eldest son of
Septimius Severus and
Roman
Emperor from 211 to 217.[1]
He was one of the most nefarious of Roman emperors.[2][3]
Caracalla's reign was notable for:
"Caracalla was the common enemy of all mankind," wrote
Edward Gibbon.[4]
He spent his reign traveling from province to province so that each could
experience his "rapine and cruelty."[4]
Rise to power
Caracalla, of mixed
Punic/Berber[5][6]
and Syrian
Arab descent,
[7][8][9]
was born Lucius Septimius Bassianus in
Lugdunum,
Gaul (now
Lyon,
France), the
son of the later Emperor Septimius Severus and
Julia
Domna. At the age of seven, his name was changed to Marcus Aurelius
Septimius Bassianus Antoninus to solidify connection to the family of
Marcus Aurelius. He was later given the
nickname
Caracalla, which referred to the Gallic hooded tunic he habitually wore
and which he made fashionable.
His father, who had taken the imperial throne in 193, died in 211 while
touring the northern marches at
Eboracum (York),
and Caracalla was proclaimed co-emperor with his brother
Publius Septimius Antoninius Geta. However since both of them wanted to be
the sole ruler, tensions between the brothers were evident in the few months
they ruled the empire together (they even considered dividing the empire in two,
but were persuaded not to do so by their mother). In December 211, Caracalla had
Geta, the family of his former father-in-law
Gaius Fulvius Plautianus, his wife
Fulvia Plautilla (also his paternal second cousin), and her brother
assassinated. He persecuted Geta's supporters and ordered a
damnatio memoriae by the Senate against his brother.
Reign
In 213 Caracalla went north to the German frontier to deal with the
Alamanni
who were causing trouble in the
Agri Decumates. The emperor managed to win the sympathy of the soldiers with
generous pay rises and popular gestures, like marching on foot among the
ordinary soldiers, eating the same food, and even grinding his own flour with
them.
Caracalla defeated the Alamanni in a battle near the river
Main, but failed to
win a decisive victory over them. After a peace agreement was brokered, the
senate conferred upon him the title "Germanicus Maximus". In the next year the
emperor traveled to the East.
When the inhabitants of
Alexandria heard Caracalla's claims that he had killed Geta in self-defense,
they produced a satire mocking this claim, as well as Caracalla's other
pretensions. Caracalla responded to this insult savagely in 215 by slaughtering
the deputation of leading citizens who had unsuspectingly assembled before the
city to greet his arrival, and then unleashed his troops for several days of
looting and plunder in Alexandria. According to historian Cassius Dio, over
20,000 people were killed.
During his reign as emperor, Caracalla raised the annual pay of an average
legionary to 675
denarii and lavished many benefits on the army which he both feared and
admired, as instructed by his father Septimius Severus who had told him to
always mind the soldiers and ignore everyone else.[10]
His official portraiture marked a break with the detached images of the
philosopher-emperors who preceded him: his close-cropped haircut is that of a
soldier, his pugnacious scowl a realistic and threatening presence. The rugged
soldier-emperor iconic type was adopted by several of the following emperors who
depended on the support of the legions, like
Trebonianus Gallus.[11]
Seeking to secure his own legacy, Caracalla also commissioned one of Rome's
last major architectural achievements, the
Baths of Caracalla, the largest public bath ever built in ancient Rome. The
main room of the baths was larger than
St. Peter's Basilica, and could easily accommodate over 2,000 Roman citizens
at one time. The bath house opened in 216, complete with private rooms and
outdoor tracks. Internally it was decorated with golden trim and mosaics.
The Roman Empire and its provinces in 210 AD
Fall
While travelling from
Edessa to begin a war with
Parthia, he
was assassinated while urinating at a roadside near
Harran on
April 8,
217 by Julius
Martialis, an officer in the imperial bodyguard.
Herodian
says that Martialis' brother had been executed a few days earlier by Caracalla
on an unproven charge; Cassius Dio, on the other hand, says that Martialis was
resentful at not being promoted to the rank of centurion. The escort of the
emperor gave him privacy to relieve himself, and Martialis ran forward and
killed Caracalla with a single sword stroke. He immediately fled on horseback,
but was killed by a bodyguard archer.[citation
needed]
Caracalla was succeeded by the Praetorian Prefect of the Guard,
Macrinus,
who almost certainly was part of the conspiracy against the emperor.[citation
needed]
His nickname
According to
Aurelius Victor in his Epitome de Caesaribus, the
cognomen "Caracalla"
refers to a Gallic
cloak that Caracalla adopted as a personal fashion, which spread to his army
and his court.[12]
Cassius Dio[13]
and the
Historia Augusta[14]
agree that his nickname derived from his cloak, but do not mention its country
of origin.
Legendary king of Britain
Geoffrey of Monmouth's legendary
History of the Kings of Britain makes Caracalla a king of Britain,
referring to him by his actual name "Bassianus", rather than the nickname
Caracalla. After Severus's death, the Romans wanted to make Geta king of
Britain, but the Britons preferred Bassianus because he had a British mother.
The two brothers fought a battle in which Geta was killed, and Bassianus
succeeded to the throne. He ruled until he was betrayed by his
Pictish allies
and overthrown by
Carausius,
who, according to Geoffrey, was a Briton, rather than the
Menapian Gaul
that he actually was.[15]
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