Caracalla - Denarius, VICTORIA PARTH MAX, Rome

Struck at Rome, AD 204, when Caracalla was a teenage co-Augustus ruling alongside his father Septimius Severus. The obverse shows the boyish laureate portrait with the legend ANTONINVS PIVS AVG - the Antonine name the Severans adopted to graft themselves onto the dynasty of Marcus Aurelius and claim its legitimacy.

The reverse proclaims VICTORIA PARTH MAX - Victoria Parthica Maxima, "the Greatest Parthian Victory." Victory runs left with wreath and palm, advertising Severus's Parthian war and the sack of the Parthian capital Ctesiphon in 198, the campaign that earned him the title Parthicus Maximus. Stamping the family triumph on the young co-emperor's own coinage was deliberate: the victory belonged to the dynasty, not just the father.

Attribution: RIC IV 145 · BMCRE 298 · Cohen 661

Provenance: Ex JMB Collection

Mint: Rome

Weight: 3.2 g

Diameter: 18.5 mm

Catalogued in the NumisLens cabinet - NL-RSGTK-CAKAJ

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