Can somebody please explain the meaning of the inscription on the reverse of this coin? Is it Caracalla kneeling before Salus?
Not Caracalla on the reverse. It's a female figure, according to RIC (listing photographed below) and Sear.
Thank you for the RIC image. I'm still waiting for my copy of this volume. Any idea of the meaning of GEN HVM?
It is short for Salus Generis Humani - Salvation of the Human Race. Specific details of the reverse type are given in this informative article: https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=SAL GEN HVM
Salvation of the human race. How cool. I love coins with such a meaningful theme. Thank you for the link to a very interesting article. I don't have the coin in hand yet as its on its way from Europe.
I just found and purchased a copy of Dictionary of Roman Coins on ebay. It looks like a great reference. I now know it's available on Forum but I like having a hard copy of books like this. I need to get use to using the Forum site to help answer questions. Of course it's alway fun to share a coin with friends.
Galba and Trajan used the same concept. https://www.cngcoins.com/Search.asp...R_TYPE_ID_2=1&SEARCH_IN_CONTAINER_TYPE_ID_4=1 https://www.cngcoins.com/Search.asp...R_TYPE_ID_2=1&SEARCH_IN_CONTAINER_TYPE_ID_4=1 Caracalla might be summed up best with the statement. "He was no Trajan." Galba?
He looks to only be 10 years old on this portrait. Little did they know what he would grow up to become.
