Carus: Who said being bald isn't cool?

Although Carus is one of those military emperors of the Crisis of the Third Century that went just as quickly as he came, he is notable for two things:

1) He most likely died of natural causes or injuries from being hit by lightning, which makes him one of the few emperors in this turbulent period not to have been murdered.

2) He was bald and proud of it. So much so that his baldness was prominent on his coins and statues.


Carus AD 282-283, AE Antoninianus (22mm, 3.24 gram) Rome
IMP CARVS PF AVG; Rad. and cuir. bust r.
IOVI VICTORI; in ex., KAB; Jupiter standing l. holding Victory on globe and sceptre, eagle before
RIC 39

Like the other soldier emperors, whose reigns were mostly spent among the legions rather than playing politics in Rome, he is seen here wearing armor, and Jupiter proclaiming victory on the reverse leaves no doubt that this was a military man concerned with only one thing, fighting off the barbarian threats to the chaos striken Roman Empire.

Really, the baldness is the one comical thing that sets him apart and tells us something about his personality...he had a sense of humor. Other soldier emperors might have insisted in being shown with a full head of hair. After all, chances are they wouldn't have spent any time away from their military camps anyway, so who was to know what the emperor really looked like. But not Carus, he was a baldie and not afraid to show it.

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Nice addition!


Carus (282- 285 A.D.)
Ӕ Antoninianus
O: IMP C M AVR CARVS P F AVG; Radiate and cuirassed bust right.
R: VIRTVS AVGG; Soldier standing left, leaning on shield and holding spear. In ex. ΓKA
Rome Mint
23mm
3.7g
RIC V(b) Rome 45

 

Bald is beautiful.

 

Mine is like Mat's except the KA is before rather than after the officina letter.


Someone, not I, should show a coin of the other famous bald emperor Gordian II. His bald head is how we tell his coins from those of his hairy father. Who has the pair of them to show the difference?

 

Great coin @Sallent - don't have a Carus yet in my collection.

 

Great coins everyone, here is mine:

 

Nice addition. Nothing wrong with being bald

 

Nice silvering!

 

This Carus tetradrachm portrait seems to have hair. I have heard the theory that provincial mints received a portrait bust of each new emperor. Perhaps Carus' had not arrived yet when this was made.


EGYPT, Carus, 282-3 AD. potin 18.3mm 8.39g
Obv: Α Κ M A KAPOC CEB; Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right
Rev: Eagle standing right, holding wreath in beak; L to left, palm behind, A to right
Dattari 5565? 5569?, Cologne/Geissen 3116-3? 3159? Emmett 3999
Ex Art Institute of Chicago, from the Glover collection acquired in 1978, #1481. Gemini, auction XII, April 2017, lot 487 (part)

Note: extraordinarily smooth and even patina with yellow highlights.

 

As this coin and Randy's demonstrate, us baldies can even become gods.



And my sandy lifetime issue from Antioch:

 

LOL, cool chrome-dome espy Mr @Sallent !

I have only one coin from Carus:


RI Carus 282-283 CE AE 18mm Consecratio Flaming Alter

 

I recall an old saying of my (bald) grandfather:

"The good Lord has made a lot of men's heads -- and the ugly ones he has covered with hair".

(Note: I still have a full head of hair)

Great coins posted here.

 

I think it’s a little insensitive to speak of baldness as being comical. That said, I like to think of my coin below as having two bald eagles on it .

 

Bald is beautiful!

 

Some great examples in this thread.

 

Here is another Carus
:

 

What I meant was that he had the humor to be portrayed as bald. Remember, many emperors had their portraits enhanced to make them look different than what they actually looked like. For example, Augustus and Tiberius had young-looking portraits of them cranked out even after they were both extremely old. Other emperors are depicted with flawless skin and no blemishes, even though they ruled until they were quite old and infirmed. Thus was a marked contrast from Republican times when portraits were realistic and depicted wrinkles, moles, baldness, and skin blemishes.

So the fact that Carus chose to depict his baldness is what's comical, not the baldness itself. It shows the man was very sure of himself and had a sense of humor. He could have had himself depicted as a 35 year old man with a full head of hair, but instead had the confidence to depict himself old and bald (a true likeness of himself).

 

Natural causes or murdered by Jupiter?

 

The man surely wasn't short on confidence. He didn't even bother to return to Rome after his acclamation by the Senate and went right ahead setting up a dynasty. Someone like that can end up being a bit of a lightning rod...

 

Some early issue Ants. also copied the more hirsute portraits of previous emperor. Here he looks like Probus.



sometimes he kept it under his hat (helmet)