BITHYNIA. Uncertain mint (Nicaea?). Caracalla, 198-217. Cistophorus (Silver, 26 mm, 9.70 g, 12 h), circa 198-202. IM C M AVR•ANTONINVS AVG Laureate head of Caracalla to right. Rev. •IMP•C•M•AVR•ANTONINVS / AVGVS Caracalla, in military attire, on horseback to right, his mantle floating behind him, holding lance in his right hand and reins in his left. D. Calomino: Severan Cistophori: Mint and Interpretation, in: NC 180 (2020), -. W. E. Metcalf: The Severan 'cistophori', in: RIN 90 (1988), - (O/C3 / R -). RPC V.2 online -. Anpublished and unique, a highly interesting discovery. Minor marks and with a small scrape on the reverse, otherwise, very fine.


The unusual Severan cistophori are a highly interesting series. No fewer than 22 types and varieties are so far known for Septimius Severus, Julia Domna, Caracalla, and Geta, revealing a remarkably diverse iconography; yet every one of them is extremely rare. In the new RPC V.2 online, no single type is represented by more than four specimens, and only 40 pieces are known across all 22 varieties. Our coin adds a further type to the series. It shows the young Caracalla on horseback and has its exact parallel in RPC V.2 online ID 83480, a unique coin depicting Geta on horseback with the legend P SEPT GETA CAES.

The series can broadly be dated to 198-202 on the basis of Caracalla’s titulature, since he already appears as Augustus, as well as the portraits of the two princes and the absence of any coins for Plautilla. This date range also fits the imagery: victory wreaths, standards, Victoria, and the princes on horseback all emphasize Severan military success and clearly belong in the context of Septimius Severus’ Parthian wars.

The place where these cistophori were struck is as uncertain as the occasion for their issue. They were long attributed to Caesarea in Cappadocia, but more recent scholarship points instead to Bithynia, perhaps Nicaea. Some types - such as those with grain ears, the Capitoline temple, and Roma seated - deliberately echo the iconography of earlier cistophori, suggesting that a conscious appeal to tradition played some part. At the same time, the predominance of victory types tied to current events points to a very specific historical occasion behind the coinage.

One possible context is Septimius Severus’ return from the East in 202. The imperial family probably travelled overland through Asia Minor to the Danubian provinces, where, as Herodian reports, the emperor inspected the troops before returning to Rome. Caracalla’s portrait would fit such a date well: compared with his earliest coin portraits, he appears markedly more mature, as one would expect of a boy of about fourteen, while his brother Geta, only a year younger, is still shown with the conventional portrait type of a child.