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April 4th: CARACALLA the tyrant is born.
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<p>[QUOTE="Ocatarinetabellatchitchix, post: 7362127, member: 99554"]<b><span style="color: #0080ff">Ἀλέξανδρος ἦν, καὶτήν τε μνήμην αὐτοῦπαντοίως ἀνενεώσατο, εἰκόνας τε καὶἀνδριάντας ἐν πάσαις πόλεσιν ἀναστῆναι ἐκέλευσε (Herodian IV,8)</span></b></p><p><b><span style="color: #0080ff"><br /></span></b></p><p><i><b><span style="color: #0080ff">He was Alexander. He revived his memory in a thousand ways and ordered that portraits and statues be erected in all the cities.</span></b></i></p><p><br /></p><p><b>The history </b></p><p>Emperor <b>Caracalla</b> owes his nickname to a Gallic mantle he wore regularly, but his real name is Lucius Septimius Bassianus. He is the eldest son of Emperor Septimius Severus, and his birth takes place in <b><span style="color: #ff0000">April 4th</span></b> 188 AD in Lugdunum. A fervent admirer of Alexander the Great, <b>Caracalla</b> comes to power by assassinating his brother, and he will reign terror during his six years in power. In power from the age of 23, he quickly became a tyrant whose excesses of all kinds seemed bordering on madness.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1283124[/ATTACH] </p><p>Metropolitan Museum of Art</p><p><br /></p><p> However, he is very popular with the military, because, despite his status, he lives in the same conditions as them during the many bloody campaigns aimed at expanding his Empire. His cruelty is limitless, and this is certainly what allows him to achieve several historic victories like that of Alexandria in Egypt. In 212, he wrote an edict of capital importance granting Roman citizenship to all inhabitants of the Empire. Far from being a wave of sympathy for the people, this measure aims to increase the number of citizens having to pay heavy taxes. It also makes it possible to unify the status of the inhabitants of the Empire in order to reduce the administrative workload. Hated by the people at the end of his reign, <b>Caracalla</b> was assassinated in 217 by a soldier paid by the praetorian prefect Macrinus, who then seized power.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>The coinage</b></p><p>In 215 AD, <b>Caracalla</b> introduced a new denomination , the Antoninianus, which bore on the obverse the effigy of the emperor radiate, and for the empresses, a bust resting on a lunar crescent. Why ? One of the empire's biggest expense department is the army (about 70% of the annuel expenses). Under Severus, the soldier's salary had been doubled, and his son <b>Caracalla</b>, knowing his unpopularity with the people, wanted to secure the support of the army by again increasing the pay of his legionaries. In addition, the new Emperor decided to lead a military campaign in the East, and wars, we suspect, are very expensive. However, silver stocks are decreasing because, since the integration of the Dacia mines, no new deposit has been discovered. However, the monetary manipulations of the emperors lead to a vicious process: bad money drives out good. Indeed, the citizens keep their old money of better quality (and often constitute themselves hoards) and only the new currencies circulate ... The quantity of new money put into circulation constantly increasing in order to regulate the public expenditure, and the quantity of the precious metal being constant, the authorities have no other choice than the debasement of the coinage.</p><p><br /></p><p>We do not know the name of this new currency at its origin, however Historia Augusta makes this mention: (...) <i>argenteos Antoninianos mille </i>(...). Meanwhile, it is not certain that this name was used, since the veracity of the information contained in this work has often been questioned. The value of the Antoninianus is certainly twice that of the denarius, as indicated by the radiated crown on the bust of the Emperor, and which reminds us of the same distinctive mark put on the bronzes from the 1st century to differentiate the As from the Dupondius. It should be noted that simultaneously with the appearance of the double denarius, <b>Caracalla</b> also introduces a double Aureus; its weight is around 13g (double of the Aureus) and the portrait of the Emperor also wears the radiated crown. This new denomination is produced at 1/64 of a pound, or in theory 5.04g (the weight measured on the 58 specimens kept at the British Museum gives an average of 5.02g). We therefore notice that this does not correspond to double the weight of the denier which is about 3.23g, but rather a value of around 1.5 denier ! We are therefore literally dealing with a disguised devaluation.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>The Antoniniani of <b>Caracalla</b> are all minted at the Rome mint of 215 AD -217 AD, the date of his death. They were first struck with an alloy containing about 49.5% of silver. Unlike his father two decades earlier, he did not take advantage of his eastern military campaign to open monetaty worshops in this region. The only obverse legend is the one that has prevailed since 213 AD on the denarii: ANTONINVS PIVS AVG GERM. Here are also the different types of reverses used for <b>Caracalla's</b> propaganda:</p><p><br /></p><p>* Jupiter standing and seated</p><p><br /></p><p>* Sol standing and in a quadriga</p><p><br /></p><p>* Luna in a biga</p><p><br /></p><p>* Serapis standing and Serapis seated (?)</p><p><br /></p><p>* Pluto seated</p><p><br /></p><p>* Lion walking or leaping </p><p><br /></p><p>* Venus standing</p><p><br /></p><p>* Victory seated</p><p><br /></p><p>* Caracalla standing</p><p><br /></p><p>* Minos seated in front of the Minotaur (?)</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><b>Now it's time to show off: I wanna see your Caracalla's beauties!</b></p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>Venus standing</b></p><p><b>[ATTACH=full]1283123[/ATTACH] </b></p><p><b>Serapis standing</b></p><p><b>[ATTACH=full]1283125[/ATTACH] </b>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="Ocatarinetabellatchitchix, post: 7362127, member: 99554"][B][COLOR=#0080ff]Ἀλέξανδρος ἦν, καὶτήν τε μνήμην αὐτοῦπαντοίως ἀνενεώσατο, εἰκόνας τε καὶἀνδριάντας ἐν πάσαις πόλεσιν ἀναστῆναι ἐκέλευσε (Herodian IV,8) [/COLOR][/B] [I][B][COLOR=#0080ff]He was Alexander. He revived his memory in a thousand ways and ordered that portraits and statues be erected in all the cities.[/COLOR][/B][/I] [B]The history [/B] Emperor [B]Caracalla[/B] owes his nickname to a Gallic mantle he wore regularly, but his real name is Lucius Septimius Bassianus. He is the eldest son of Emperor Septimius Severus, and his birth takes place in [B][COLOR=#ff0000]April 4th[/COLOR][/B] 188 AD in Lugdunum. A fervent admirer of Alexander the Great, [B]Caracalla[/B] comes to power by assassinating his brother, and he will reign terror during his six years in power. In power from the age of 23, he quickly became a tyrant whose excesses of all kinds seemed bordering on madness. [ATTACH=full]1283124[/ATTACH] Metropolitan Museum of Art However, he is very popular with the military, because, despite his status, he lives in the same conditions as them during the many bloody campaigns aimed at expanding his Empire. His cruelty is limitless, and this is certainly what allows him to achieve several historic victories like that of Alexandria in Egypt. In 212, he wrote an edict of capital importance granting Roman citizenship to all inhabitants of the Empire. Far from being a wave of sympathy for the people, this measure aims to increase the number of citizens having to pay heavy taxes. It also makes it possible to unify the status of the inhabitants of the Empire in order to reduce the administrative workload. Hated by the people at the end of his reign, [B]Caracalla[/B] was assassinated in 217 by a soldier paid by the praetorian prefect Macrinus, who then seized power. [B]The coinage[/B] In 215 AD, [B]Caracalla[/B] introduced a new denomination , the Antoninianus, which bore on the obverse the effigy of the emperor radiate, and for the empresses, a bust resting on a lunar crescent. Why ? One of the empire's biggest expense department is the army (about 70% of the annuel expenses). Under Severus, the soldier's salary had been doubled, and his son [B]Caracalla[/B], knowing his unpopularity with the people, wanted to secure the support of the army by again increasing the pay of his legionaries. In addition, the new Emperor decided to lead a military campaign in the East, and wars, we suspect, are very expensive. However, silver stocks are decreasing because, since the integration of the Dacia mines, no new deposit has been discovered. However, the monetary manipulations of the emperors lead to a vicious process: bad money drives out good. Indeed, the citizens keep their old money of better quality (and often constitute themselves hoards) and only the new currencies circulate ... The quantity of new money put into circulation constantly increasing in order to regulate the public expenditure, and the quantity of the precious metal being constant, the authorities have no other choice than the debasement of the coinage. We do not know the name of this new currency at its origin, however Historia Augusta makes this mention: (...) [I]argenteos Antoninianos mille [/I](...). Meanwhile, it is not certain that this name was used, since the veracity of the information contained in this work has often been questioned. The value of the Antoninianus is certainly twice that of the denarius, as indicated by the radiated crown on the bust of the Emperor, and which reminds us of the same distinctive mark put on the bronzes from the 1st century to differentiate the As from the Dupondius. It should be noted that simultaneously with the appearance of the double denarius, [B]Caracalla[/B] also introduces a double Aureus; its weight is around 13g (double of the Aureus) and the portrait of the Emperor also wears the radiated crown. This new denomination is produced at 1/64 of a pound, or in theory 5.04g (the weight measured on the 58 specimens kept at the British Museum gives an average of 5.02g). We therefore notice that this does not correspond to double the weight of the denier which is about 3.23g, but rather a value of around 1.5 denier ! We are therefore literally dealing with a disguised devaluation. The Antoniniani of [B]Caracalla[/B] are all minted at the Rome mint of 215 AD -217 AD, the date of his death. They were first struck with an alloy containing about 49.5% of silver. Unlike his father two decades earlier, he did not take advantage of his eastern military campaign to open monetaty worshops in this region. The only obverse legend is the one that has prevailed since 213 AD on the denarii: ANTONINVS PIVS AVG GERM. Here are also the different types of reverses used for [B]Caracalla's[/B] propaganda: * Jupiter standing and seated * Sol standing and in a quadriga * Luna in a biga * Serapis standing and Serapis seated (?) * Pluto seated * Lion walking or leaping * Venus standing * Victory seated * Caracalla standing * Minos seated in front of the Minotaur (?) [B]Now it's time to show off: I wanna see your Caracalla's beauties! Venus standing [ATTACH=full]1283123[/ATTACH] Serapis standing [ATTACH=full]1283125[/ATTACH] [/B][/QUOTE]
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April 4th: CARACALLA the tyrant is born.
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