Mytilene (AD 198-217) AE 43 - Caracalla

Caracalla, 198-217 AD. AE43 Medallion (55.52g, 6h), Pub. Julius Leontius, magistrate. AVTO KAI MAP AYPH ANTONEINOC, young laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / EPI CTPA PO IOVLIOV LEONTEW, MVTILHNAI/WN in two lines in exergue, Caracalla, holding sceptre in left hand, standing in chariot drawn by four horses to left, preceded by a Roman soldier; trophy and two captives on a pedestal in the background. Good VF, brown surfaces, fields smoothed and some tooling, most noticeable around the legends. Very rare. From the Garth R. Drewry Collection. Ex Triton II (12/1998), lot 632.

This medallion present a traditional view of the staging of the adventus, the ceremony honoring the emperor as he enters a host city. Caracalla is in the imperial chariot, proceded by the herald announcing his arrival. The captives and the trophy could be either a premonition of the expected victory over the Persians, or could represent the skirmishes with the border tribes that occupied the army as he passed through Thrace.