Bootleg/Off-Brand/Knockoff Alexander the Great Billon Tetradrachm

It is no surprise that Caracalla liked Alexander the Great. "Liked" is probably an understatement for Caracalla's obsession for Alexander, as the Emperor imitated Alexander in every fashion. After gaining the lofty title of Germanicus in 213, Caracalla's mental health took a nose dive; Caracalla reportedly became impotent at around this time and began having nightmares of his father and brother chasing him with daggers.

After leaving Raetia in 213, Caracalla traveled to Greece and reportedly raised 16,000 volunteers for a Macedonian style phalanx(the phalanx had fallen out of use for nearly 300 years by this point). Caracalla then crossed the Hellespont and sacrificed to Achilies and Patroculus at Troy, held a funeral for his favorite deceased freed man, and then moved to Antioch. While preparing to go to war with the Parthian Empire, he decided to go to Alexandria to pay homage to Alexander's corpse located there. While in Alexandria, he ordered a massacre and looting of the city, justifying the murders because the locals had "insulted" his honor. Caracalla began his Parthian campaign in 216 CE with a massacre of Parthian nobles at a wedding in Mesopotamia; King Artabanus V barely escaping with his life. Caracalla and his army then began a reign of terror in northern Mesopotamia with mass killings and looting. At Arebela, Caracalla broke into the Parthian royal tombs and sacked the structure and scattered the bones of the long dead monarchs. As much as he liked to think of himself as a reborn Alexander III of Macedon, Caracalla did not die in bed with his loyal officers by his side as the great conqueror had, but on the side of a road while urinating.

While in the east Caracalla ordered 28 cities in Syria and Phoenicia to strike large amounts tetradrachms. There are certainly rare mints and varieties, but most can be had for a fraction of the price of earlier Hellenistic tetradrachms. However, unlike the earlier Macedonian, Egyptian, and Seleucid tetradrachms which were nearly pure silver, Caracalla's coinage was billon(35-36% silver). I feel as if this perfectly encapsulates Caracalla's reign, as he tried hard to emulate Alexander the Great but ultimately was inferior on every level.


PHOENICIA, Berytus. Caracalla. AD 198-217. AR Tetradrachm (27mm, 13.38 g, 1h). Struck AD 215-217. Laureate head right, slight drapery / Eagle standing facing, head left, with wings displayed, holding wreath in beak; between legs, stern of galley left. Prieur 1293. gVF, underlying luster.

The eagle on reverse of this coin looks as if it has some endocrine disorder that caused it to be afflicted with stunted growth.



Feel free to post your tetradrachms of "the common enemy of mankind".


"Can I copy your homework"
"Sure just change it up so the teacher won't notice"


Fun reading
https://www.ancient.eu/article/237/life-of-caracalla/

 

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Thanks, @Magnus Maximus , great write-up. Nice Tet!

 

Great write up, & the link was a good read...what a bastard (figuratively)...weird that he was only 29 when finally put down!

 

Is this the earliest of the "eagle" on the reverse format that we see in our own coinage for instance...?

 

Is this the earliest of the "eagle" on the reverse format that we see in later coinage...?

 

Nope, Eagles were on coins probably 700+ years earlier.

 

Amazing...thank you for sharing some of your wealth of knowledge!

 

I took his statement to mean this eagle pose was copied for the first US coinage with eagles???

I believe my earliest eagle is the Akragas didrachm 510-472 BC or the cast 'tooth' AE Trias but both are folded wings. What are the earliest spread wing, eagle facing coins?

 

Well, it's just very interesting that some symbols are persistent throughout coinage design...I will visit your site.

 

The movement from the Akragas to the ptolemaic as presented on your website was very intelligent and insightful...the eagle with the hare, the eagle with Zeus, the eagle with Ptolemy l...a read for all collectors!

 

Then there are the famous gold medallions discovered at Abukir, Egypt, one of which, as I recollect, depicted Caracalla as Alexander (not the one above):
https://www.jstor.org/stable/43588121?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents

 

M.M., Interesting article . More faces of Caracalla .




Antioch - Syria, Caracalla, c. AD 216-217, McAlee 681

 

Roman empire...Antioch--Syria...do we not see a form of this eagle in our early gold and silver US coinage...?

 

Some pictures of this emperor.



Denarius issued in 201/2, when Caracalla was 13/14 years old.



AE Sestertius, Caracalla. Minted in Rome, year 211. Bought in Istanbul, 1974. This coin is sort-of-an-ancestor of the 19th and 20th century British penny.



AR tetradrachm, Hierapolis, Cyrrhestica (now Manbij, North Syria), issued 215-217.



This is a beautiful large brockage.



AE27 of Marcianopolis, Moesia.



AE28 tetrassarion of Comana, Pontus. Year CY 172 = 205/6. Obv. Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust r. M AYPHΛI ANTωNINOC (under the bust, something I can’t read). Rev. Tetrastyle temple with wreath in pediment. Within, statue of Nike, holding wreath, on top of a sacred stone, the baetyl of Ma.



AE29, Pontos, Amaseia. Caracalla (198-217). Obv. Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right. Rev. Altar of Zeus Strateus; to left, tree. 29 mm, 10.42 gr. Year CH = 208?

 

No eagles for me, but my best Caracalla nonetheless

 

Excellent write-up @Magnus Maximus, I especially like the map, and your contrast between their two deaths sums it perfectly. I think I shared these fairly recently, but I’m always happy to post these again.


Caracalla, Tetradrachm, Phoenicia (Tyre) mint, (27mm., 13.70g) Laureate head r./Rev. Eagle standing facing on club r., head and tail l., holding wreath in beak; between legs, murex shell. Prieur 1535.


Caracalla, Tetradrachm, Phoenicia (Tyre), (27mm, 15.23 g), 213-215 AD.Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / Eagle standing facing on club r., head and tail l., with wings spread, holding wreath in beak; murex shell between legs. Prieur 1550.
CNG E-Auction 453, From the M. Prieur Collection.


Caracalla, Antioch, Tetradrachm (27 mm, 12.00g), 215-217 AD. Laureate head r./Rev. Eagle with spread wings standing facing, head to r. and holding wreath in beak; between the eagle's legs, star above cornucopiae. Prieur 244.

 

Here’s a very rare life size bronze Roman eagle

 

I specifically thought of your well written article a few months ago about the Tyrian shekels, when I bought my coin.

Nice coins all!

 

I did a re-shoot of the Caracalla BI tetradrachm from Tyre.

This is the coin that seems to have him wearing a Heracles hairdo. The flan is small and the surfaces are pretty rough, but the long flowing hair on the back of his head certainly seems to suggest some reference to Alexander III. Either that, or he was sheltering in place for far too long....

Also, there seems to be a suggestion of the upper part of a lion's head, but given the crude nature of this coin, that's a conjecture on my part.

As they'd say in the 60's, this guy was on some kind of power trip.

11.36 grams
15 mm, 6 h.



One more thing - Looking at the coin, notice how exaggerated the brow line is above the eye. Now Caracalla's coinage is renowned for his severe look, with plenty of furrowed brows and sneering mouths. This coin seems to take the over-sized brow to new heights and is not dissimilar to those shown on some of Alexander III's tetradrachms, such as this one:

 

Yes, the hairdo is totally new to me! Good eye!