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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;TIF, post: 2560611, member: 56859&quot;]I have another Caracalla that slipped my mind <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie10" alt=":oops:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />.&nbsp; I&#039;ve had it a while and had planned to do a nice writeup, but I&#039;m so behind on <i>everything</i> that I may as well just post it here.</p><p><br /></p><p>A coin depicting Apollo Sauroktonos has been on my radar for some time and I was very happy to get this one, even though his pose isn&#039;t quite like most of the statues.</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/ae43f8_41ed639c24504f398f0257a9cf90a0ca~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_1000,h_625,al_c,q_90/ae43f8_41ed639c24504f398f0257a9cf90a0ca~mv2.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><b>MOESIA INFERIOR, Nikopolis ad Istrum.&nbsp; Caracalla</b></p><p>Ovinius Tertullus, legatus consularis.</p><p>AE 28, 13.05 gm</p><p>Obv:&nbsp; AV K M AVP ANTΩNINOC;&nbsp; laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right</p><p>Rev:&nbsp; VΠA OOVI TEPTOVΛΛOV ΝΙΚΟΠΟΛΙΤΩΝ ΠΡΟC Ι; Apollo Sauroktonos standing right, holding laurel branch and leaning hand upon a tree stump with a lizard climbing up it.</p><p>Ref:&nbsp; H&amp;J 8.18.7.1; Varbanov -.</p><p>This one has a nicely visible although particularly detailed lizard.&nbsp; Not all of them do <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>Apollo Sauroktonos, the Lizard Slayer.&nbsp; I prefer to think he was just admiring the little reptile <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie8" alt=":D" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac/Apollo_Sauroktonos_Louvre_Ma441_n06.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> </p><p><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Apollo_Sauroktonos,_Louvre_Ma_441" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Apollo_Sauroktonos,_Louvre_Ma_441" rel="nofollow"><font size="3">image from Wikipedia</font></a></p><p><br /></p><p><a href="http://www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvre-notices/apollo-sauroctonus" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvre-notices/apollo-sauroctonus" rel="nofollow">From the Lourve&#039;s website</a>:</p><p><br /></p><p>The Apollo Sauroctonus (Lizard Slayer), dating from about 350-340 BC, was one of the finest works by the Athenian sculptor Praxiteles. While it is faithful to the classical tradition, the subject is innovative and the style bold. Apollo is depicted as an adolescent, about to catch a lizard climbing up a tree trunk. The group was regularly copied by Roman sculptors. It evokes the god&#039;s purifying virtues and is quietly reminiscent of his later struggle with the serpent Python.</p><p>...</p><p>A number of hypotheses have been put forward to explain Apollo&#039;s actions, many referring to the religious allusion that the apparently motiveless scene originally would have conveyed. The work is thought to refer to the purifying virtues of Apollo, who defeated evil creatures and destroyed scourges. It may also be an adumbration of his struggle against the serpent Python in Delphi. Apollo&#039;s purifying or curative powers are referred to in other epithets associated with the god: Apollo Smintheus, the rat slayer, and Apollo Parnopios, the locust slayer.</p><p>...</p><p>Praxiteles (fl. 375-335 BC) is best known for his Aphrodite of Cnidos, the first great female nude in Greek sculpture. However, all of his works, the Apollo Sauroctonus in particular, are strikingly bold in style, departing from the classical tradition of the fifth century BC. The subject allowed Praxiteles to develop one of his favorite themes-a young male nude with a graceful, almost feminine body and sharply defined hips. He takes contrapposto, developed by Polykleitos a century previously, a step further, positioning the body off-balance so that the figure requires a support. The tree trunk thus plays a dual role, as a realistic, picturesque detail that evokes the stage on which the action takes place, and as a support for the figure. The rigid trunk, with its dry, rough bark, forms a sharp contrast to the smooth curves of the figure. In particular, the marks indicating the muscles have been carefully smoothed and softened.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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