Caracalla - Roman Emperor: 211-217 A.D. -
Bronze 18mm (3.0 grams) of Hadrianopolis in Thrace 211-217 A.D.
AVT K M AVP CEV ANTΩNEINOC, laureate head right.
AΔPIANOΠOΛEITΩN, Serpent entwined around leg of Apollo's tripod.
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A sacrificial tripod was a type of
altar used by the
ancient Greeks. The most famous was the
Delphic
tripod, on
which the Pythian
priestess took her seat to deliver the
oracles of the
deity. The seat was formed by a circular slab on the top of the tripod, on which
a branch of
laurel was deposited when it was unoccupied by the priestess. In this sense,
by Classical times the tripod was sacred to
Apollo. The
mytheme of
Heracles
contesting with Apollo for the tripod appears in vase-paintings older than the
oldest written literature. The oracle originally may have been related to the
primal deity, the Earth.
Another well-known tripod was the
Plataean Tripod, made from a tenth part of the spoils taken from the
Persian army after the
Battle of Plataea. This consisted of a golden basin, supported by a
bronze
serpent with three heads (or three serpents intertwined), with a list of the
states that had taken part in the war inscribed on the coils of the serpent. The
golden bowl was carried off by the
Phocians during
the
Third Sacred War; the stand was removed by the emperor
Constantine to
Constantinople (modern
Istanbul),
where it still can be seen in the
hippodrome, the Atmeydanı, although in damaged condition, the heads
of the serpents disappeared however one is now on display at the nearby Istanbul
Archaeology Museums. The inscription, however, has been restored almost
entirely. Such tripods usually had three ears (rings which served as
handles) and frequently had a central upright as support in addition to the
three legs.
Tripods frequently are mentioned by
Homer as prizes
in
athletic games and as complimentary gifts; in later times, highly decorated
and bearing inscriptions, they served the same purpose. They also were used as
dedicatory
offerings to the deities, and in the dramatic contests at the
Dionysia
the victorious
choregus (a wealthy citizen who bore the expense of equipping and training
the chorus) received a crown and a tripod. He would either dedicate the tripod
to some deity or set it upon the top of a marble structure erected in the form
of a small circular temple in a street in
Athens, called
the street of tripods, from the large number of memorials of this kind.
One of these, the
Choragic Monument of Lysicrates, erected by him to commemorate his victory
in a dramatic contest in
335 BC, still
stands. The form of the victory tripod, now missing from the top of the
Lysicrates monument, has been rendered variously by scholars since the
eighteenth century.
The scholar
Martin L. West writes that the sibyl at Delphi shows many traits of
shamanistic practices, likely inherited or influenced from Central Asian
practices. He cites her sitting in a cauldron on a tripod, while making her
prophecies, her being in an ecstatic trance state, similar to shamans, and her
utterings, unintelligible.
According to Herodotus (The Histories, I.144), the victory tripods were not
to be taken from the temple sanctuary precinct, but left there for dedication.
Edirne (ancient Hadrianopolis) is a city in
Thrace, the
westernmost part of
Turkey, close to the borders with
Greece and
Bulgaria.
Edirne served as the capital city of the
Ottoman Empire from 1365 to 1457, when
Constantinople (Istanbul)
became the empire's new capital. At present, Edirne is the capital of the
Edirne Province in
Turkish
Thrace. The city's estimated population in 2002 was 128,400, up from 119,298
in 2000. It has
consulates of Bulgaria,
Germany
(Honorary), Greece,
Romania
(Honorary) and
Slovakia (Honorary). Its sister cities are
Haskovo and
Yambol in
Bulgaria
and
Alexandroupoli in
Greece.
The city was founded as
Hadrianopolis, named for the Roman Emperor
Hadrian. This
name is still used in the
Modern
Greek (Αδριανούπολη). The
English name Adrianople, by which the city was known until the
Turkish Postal Service Law of 1930, has fallen into disuse. The
Turkish Edirne, the
Bulgarian Одрин (Odrin), and the Serbian Једрене (Jedrene) are
adapted forms of the name Hadrianopolis.
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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