CARACALLA 198AD Nicopolis ad Istrum DIONYSUS wine god Ancient Roman Coin i41376

Description

Item:
i41376
Authentic Ancient Coin of:
Caracalla
-
Roman Emperor
: 198-217 A.D. -
Bronze 16mm (2.46 grams) of
Nicopolis ad Istrum
Laureate draped bust right
M AVP
Λ ANTΩNIN, Bare-headed draped bust right.
NIKOΠΟΛIΤΩ ΠΡΟC ΙC, Nude
Dionysus
standing left, pouring out kantharos and holding thyrsus.
You are bidding on the exact item pictured, provided with a Certificate of Authenticity and Lifetime Guarantee of Authenticity.
Dionysus
or
Dionysos
(
Greek
Διόνυσος
) is the
ancient Greek
god
of the grape harvest,
winemaking
and
wine
, of ritual madness and
ecstasy
, was also the driving force behind
Greek theater
. The god who inspires joyful worship and
ecstasy
, festivals and celebration is a major figure of
Greek mythology
and the
religion of ancient Greece
. He is included as one of the
twelve Olympians
in some lists. Dionysus is typical of the god of the
epiphany
, "the god that comes". He was also known as
Bacchus
, the name adopted by the
Romans
and the frenzy he induces,
bakkheia
. Hailed as an Asiatic foreigner, he was thought to have had strong ties to the East and to
Ethiopia
in the South. He was also known as the Liberator (
Eleutherios
), freeing one from one's normal self, by madness, ecstasy or wine. The divine mission of Dionysus was to mingle the music of the
aulos
and to bring an end to care and worry. Scholars have discussed Dionysus' relationship to the "cult of the souls" and his ability to preside over communication between the living and the dead.
In Greek mythology, Dionysus is made out to be a son of
Zeus
and the mortal
Semele
. He is described as being womanly or "man-womanish". The
retinue
of Dionysus was called the
thiasus
and was composed chiefly of
maenads
and
satyrs
. Dionysus is a god of
mystery religious rites
. In the
Thracian
mysteries, he wears the
bassaris
or
fox
-skin, symbolizing new life. His own rites, the
Dionysian Mysteries
practiced by
maenads
and others, were the most secret of all. Many scholars believe that Dionysus is a
syncretism
of a local Greek nature deity and a more powerful god from
Thrace
or
Phrygia
such as
Sabazios
or
Zalmoxis
.
Contradictions in Dionysus' origin suggest to some that we are dealing not with the historical memory of a cult that is foreign, but with a god in whom foreignness is inherent.
Karl Kerenyi
traces him to
Minoan Crete
, where his Minoan name is unknown but his characteristic presence is recognizable. Clearly, Dionysus had been with the Greeks and their predecessors a long time, and yet always retained the feel of something alien.
In
Greek mythology
, a
thyrsus
or
thyrsos
(
Greek
:
θύρσος
) was a staff of
giant fennel
(
Ferula communis
) covered with
ivy
vines and leaves, sometimes wound with
taeniae
and always topped with a
pine
cone
. These staffs were carried by
Dionysus
and his followers.
Euripides
wrote that
honey
dripped from the thyrsos staves that the
Bacchic
maenads
carried.The thyrsus was a sacred instrument at religious rituals and
fêtes
.\
Symbolism
The thyrsus, associated with
Dionysus
(or Bacchus) and his followers, the
Satyrs
and
Maenads
, is a symbol of
prosperity
,
fertility
,
hedonism
, and pleasure/enjoyment in general. It has been suggested that this was specifically a fertility
phallus
, with the fennel representing the shaft of the penis and the pine cone representing the "seed" issuing forth. The thyrsus was tossed in the Bacchic dance:
Pentheus
: The thyrsus— in my right hand shall I hold it?
Or thus am I more like a Bacchanal?
Dionysus
: In thy right hand, and with thy right foot raise it"
Sometimes the thyrsus was displayed in conjunction with a
kantharos
wine cup, another symbol of Dionysus, forming a male-and-female combination like that of the royal scepter and orb.
Literature
In the
Iliad
,
Diomedes
, one of the leading warriors of the
Achaeans
, mentions the thyrsus while speaking to
Glaucus
, one of the
Lycian
commanders in the
Trojan
army, about
Lycurgus
, the king of
Scyros
:
He it was that/drove the nursing women who were in charge/of frenzied Bacchus through the land of Nysa,/and they flung their thyrsi on the ground as/murderous Lycurgus beat them with his ox-/goad. (
Iliad
, Book VI.132-37)
The thyrsus is explicitly attributed to Dionysus in
Euripides
's play
The Bacchae
as part of the costume of the Dionysian cult.
...To raise my Bacchic shout, and clothe all who respond/ In fawnskin habits, and put my thyrsus in their hands–/ The weapon wreathed with ivy-shoots..." Euripides also writes, "There's a brute wildness in the fennel-wands—Reverence it well." (
The Bacchae and Other Plays
, trans. by Philip Vellacott, Penguin, 1954.)
Socrates
writes in
Phaedo
:
I conceive that the founders of the mysteries had a real meaning and were not mere triflers when they intimated in a figure long ago that he who passes unsanctified and uninitiated into the world below will live in a slough, but that he who arrives there after initiation and purification will dwell with the gods. For "many," as they say in the mysteries, "are the thyrsus bearers, but few are the mystics,"--meaning, as I interpret the words, the true philosophers.
In Part II of
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
's
Faust
,
Mephistopheles
tries to catch a
Lamia
, only to find out that she is an illusion:
Well, then, a tall one I will catch.../And now a thyrsus-pole I snatch!/Only a pine-cone as its head. (7775-7777)
Sookie Stackhouse notes the thyrsus carried by the maenad in the 2nd book of
The Southern Vampire Mysteries
.
She idly waved the long wand with the tuft on the end. It was called a thyrsis [
sic
]; I’d looked maenad up in the encyclopedia. Now I could die educated. (Harris, Charlaine (2006-09-01). "Living Dead in Dallas: A Sookie Stackhouse Novel"}
Gallery
A Bacchant holding a thyrsus:
Malice
, by
William-Adolphe Bouguereau
, 1899
Roman relief showing a Maenad holding a thyrsus (
Prado
,
Madrid
).
Bacchus Triumphant
(1882)
by
John Reinhard Weguelin
A Maenad uses her thrysos to ward off a Satyr,
Attic red-figure
kylix
, circa 480 BC
Nicopolis ad Istrum
was a
Roman
and Early
Byzantine
town founded by Emperor
Trajan
around 101–106, at the junction of the Iatrus (
Yantra
) and the
Rositsa
rivers, in memory of his victory over the
Dacians
. Its ruins are located at the village of
Nikyup
, 20 km north of
Veliko Tarnovo
in northern
Bulgaria
. The town reached its apogee during the reigns of Trajan,
Hadrian
, the
Antonines
and the
Severan dynasty
.
The classical town was planned according to the orthogonal system. The network of streets, the forum surrounded by an Ionic colonnade and many buildings, a two-nave room later turned into a basilica and other public buildings have been uncovered. The rich architectures and sculptures show a similarity with those of the ancient towns in Asia Minor. Nicopolis ad Istrum had issued coins, bearing images of its own public buildings.
In
447 AD
, the town was destroyed by
Attila's
Huns
. Perhaps it was already abandoned before the early 400s. In the 6th century, it was rebuilt as a powerful fortress enclosing little more than military buildings and churches, following a very common trend for the cities of that century in the Danube area.The largest area of the extensive ruins (21.55 hectares) of the classical Nicopolis was not reoccupied since the fort covered only one fourth of it (5.75 hectares), in the southeastern corner. The town became an episcopal centre during the early Byzantine period. It was finally destroyed by the Avar invasions at the end of the 6th century. A Bulgarian medieval settlement arose upon its ruins later (10th-14th century).
Nicopolis ad Istrum can be said to have been the birthplace of
Germanic
literary tradition. In the 4th century, the
Gothic
bishop, missionary and translator
Ulfilas
(Wulfila) obtained permission from Emperor
Constantius II
to immigrate with his flock of converts to Moesia and settle near Nicopolis ad Istrum in 347-8. There, he invented the
Gothic alphabet
and translated the
Bible
from
Greek
to
Gothic
.
Caracalla
(
Latin
:
Marcus Aurelius Severus Antoninus Augustus
;4 April 188 – 8 April 217) was
Roman emperor
from 198 to 217 The eldest son of
Septimius Severus
, for a short time he ruled jointly with his younger brother
Geta
until he had him murdered in 211. Caracalla is remembered as one of the most notorious and unpleasant of emperors because of the massacres and persecutions he authorized and instigated throughout the Empire.
Caracalla's reign was also notable for the
Constitutio Antoniniana
(also called the Edict of Caracalla), granting
Roman citizenship
to all freemen throughout the
Roman Empire
, which according to historian
Cassius Dio
, was done for the purposes of raising tax revenue. He is also one of the emperors who commissioned a large public bath-house (
thermae
) in Rome. The remains of the
Baths of Caracalla
are still one of the major tourist attractions of the Italian capital.
Early life
Caracalla, of mixed
Punic
–
Roman
and
Syrian
descent, was born Lucius Septimius Bassianus in
Lugdunum
,
Gaul
(now
Lyon
,
France
), the son of the later Emperor Septimius Severus and
Julia Domna
. At the age of seven, his name was changed to Marcus Aurelius Septimius Bassianus Antoninus to create a connection to the family of the philosopher emperor
Marcus Aurelius
. He was later given the
Caracalla
nickname
, which referred to the Gallic hooded tunic he habitually wore and which he made fashionable.
Reign (211)
Murder of brother (211)
His father died in 211 at
Eboracum
(now
York
) while on campaign in northern Britain. Caracalla was present and was then proclaimed emperor by the troops along with his brother
Publius Septimius Antoninus Geta
. Caracalla suspended the
campaign in Caledonia
and soon ended all military activity, as both brothers wanted to be sole ruler thus making relations between them increasingly hostile. When they tried to rule the Empire jointly they actually considered dividing it in halves, but were persuaded not to do so by their mother.
Then in December 211 at a reconciliation meeting arranged by their mother Julia, Caracalla had Geta assassinated by members of the Praetorian Guard loyal to himself, Geta dying in his mother's arms. Caracalla then persecuted and executed most of Geta's supporters and ordered a
damnatio memoriae
pronounced by the Senate against his brother's memory.
Geta's image was simply removed from all coinage, paintings and statues, leaving a blank space next to Caracalla's. Among those executed were his former cousin-wife
Fulvia Plautilla
, his unnamed daughter with Plautilla along with her brother and other members of the family of his former father-in-law
Gaius Fulvius Plautianus
. Plautianus had already been executed for alleged treachery against emperor Severus in 205.
About the time of his accession he ordered the
Roman currency
devalued, the silver purity of the
denarius
was decreased from 56.5% to 51.5%, the actual silver weight dropping from 1.81 grams to 1.66 grams – though the overall weight slightly increased. In 215 he introduced the
antoninianus
, a "double denarius" weighing 5.1 grams and containing 2.6 grams of silver – a purity of 52%.
In the Roman provinces
In 213, Caracalla went north to the German frontier to deal with the
Alamanni
tribesmen who were raiding in the
Agri Decumates
. The Romans did defeat the Alamanni in battle near the river
Main
, but failed to win a decisive victory over them. After a peace agreement was brokered and a large bribe payment given to the invaders, the Senate conferred upon him the empty title of
Germanicus Maximus
. He also acquired the surname
Alemannicus
at this time. The following year the tyrant traveled to the East, to Syria and Egypt never to return to Rome.
Gibbon
in his work describes Caracalla as "the common enemy of mankind". He left the capital in 213, about a year after the murder of Geta, and spent the rest of his reign in the provinces, particularly those of the East. He kept the Senate and other wealthy families in check by forcing them to construct, at their own expense, palaces, theaters, and places of entertainment throughout the periphery. New and heavy taxes were levied against the bulk of the population, with additional fees and confiscations targeted at the wealthiest families.
When the inhabitants of
Alexandria
heard Caracalla's claims that he had killed Geta in self-defense, they produced a satire mocking this as well as Caracalla's other pretensions. In 215, Caracalla savagely responded to this insult by slaughtering the deputation of leading citizens who had unsuspectingly assembled before the city to greet his arrival, and then unleashed his troops for several days of looting and plunder in Alexandria. According to historian Cassius Dio, over 20,000 people were killed.
[
citation needed
]
Domestic Roman policy
Affiliation with the army
During his reign as emperor, Caracalla raised the annual pay of an average legionary to 675
denarii
and lavished many benefits on the army which he both feared and admired, as instructed by his father Septimius Severus who had told him on his deathbed to always mind the soldiers and ignore everyone else. Caracalla did manage to win the trust of the military with generous pay rises and popular gestures, like marching on foot among the ordinary soldiers, eating the same food, and even grinding his own flour with them.
With the soldiers, "He forgot even the proper dignity of his rank, encouraging their insolent familiarity," according to Gibbon. "The vigour of the army, instead of being confirmed by the severe discipline of the camps, melted away in the luxury of the cities."
O:
laureate
head of Caracalla
ANTONINVS
PIVS
AVG
GERM
R:
Sol
holding
globe
, rising hand
P M
TR P
_
XVIIII
COS
IIII
P P
silver
denarius
struck in
Rome
216; ref.: RIC 281b, C 359
His official portraiture marks a break with the detached images of the philosopher–emperors who preceded him: his close-cropped haircut is that of a soldier, his pugnacious scowl a realistic and threatening presence. This rugged soldier–emperor iconic archetype was adopted by most of the following emperors who depended on the support of the troops to rule, like his eventual successor
Maximinus Thrax
.
Seeking to secure his own legacy, Caracalla also commissioned one of Rome's last major architectural achievements, the
Baths of Caracalla
, the 2nd largest public baths ever built in ancient Rome. The main room of the baths was larger than
St. Peter's Basilica
, and could easily accommodate over 2,000 Roman citizens at one time. The bath house opened in 216, complete with libraries, private rooms and outdoor tracks. Internally it was lavishly decorated with gold-trimmed marble floors, columns, mosaics and colossal statuary.
Edict of Caracalla (212)
The
Constitutio Antoniniana
(Latin: "Constitution [or Edict] of Antoninus") (also called
Edict of Caracalla
) was an edict issued in 212 by Caracalla which declared that all free men in the Roman Empire were to be given full Roman citizenship and all free women in the Empire were given the same rights as Roman women.
Before 212, for the most part only inhabitants of Italia held full Roman citizenship. Colonies of Romans established in other provinces, Romans (or their descendants) living in provinces, the inhabitants of various cities throughout the Empire, and small numbers of local nobles (such as kings of client countries) held full citizenship also. Provincials, on the other hand, were usually non-citizens, although many held the
Latin Right
.
The Roman Historian
Cassius Dio
contended that the sole motivation for the edict was a desire to increase state revenue.At the time aliens did not have to pay most taxes that were required of citizens, so although nominally Caracalla was elevating their legal status, he was more importantly expanding the Roman tax base. The effect of this was to remove the distinction that citizenship had held since the foundation of Rome and as such the act had a profound effect upon the fabric of Roman society.
[16]
War with Parthia
According to the historian Herodian, in 216, Caracalla tricked the Parthians into believing that he accepted a marriage and peace proposal, but then had the bride and guests slaughtered after the wedding celebrations. The thereafter ongoing conflict and skirmishes became known as the
Parthian war of Caracalla
.
Assassination (217)
The Roman Empire during the reign of Caracalla.
While travelling from
Edessa
to continue the war with
Parthia
, he was assassinated while urinating at a roadside near
Carrhae
on 8 April 217 (4 days after his 29th birthday), by Julius Martialis, an officer of his personal bodyguard.
Herodian
says that Martialis' brother had been executed a few days earlier by Caracalla on an unproven charge; Cassius Dio, on the other hand, says that Martialis was resentful at not being promoted to the rank of centurion. The escort of the emperor gave him privacy to relieve himself, and Martialis then ran forward and killed Caracalla with a single sword stroke. While attempting to flee, the bold assassin was then quickly dispatched by a Scythian archer of the Imperial Guard.
Caracalla was succeeded by his
Praetorian Guard Prefect
,
Macrinus
, who (according to Herodian) was most probably responsible for having the emperor assassinated.
His nickname
According to
Aurelius Victor
in his
Epitome de Caesaribus
, the
agnomen
"Caracalla" refers to a Gallic
cloak
that Caracalla adopted as a personal fashion, which spread to his army and his court. Cassius Dio and the
Historia Augusta
agree that his nickname was derived from his cloak, but do not mention its country of origin.
Legendary king of Britain
Geoffrey of Monmouth
's legendary
History of the Kings of Britain
makes Caracalla a king of Britain, referring to him by his actual name "Bassianus", rather than the nickname Caracalla. In the story, after Severus's death the Romans wanted to make Geta king of Britain, but the Britons preferred Bassianus because he had a British mother. The two brothers fought a battle in which Geta was killed and Bassianus succeeded to the throne. He ruled until he was betrayed by his
Pictish
allies and overthrown by
Carausius
, who, according to Geoffrey, was a Briton, rather than the historically much later
Menapian
Gaul that he actually was.
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