coin
- Museum number
- 1906,1010.1
- Description
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Copper alloy coin. (whole)
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Serapis (or Hades / Pluto) seated, left, holding sceptre and with Cerberus at feet, addressed by Caracalla, holding sceptre and advancing, right. (reverse)
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Bust, right, laureate, cuirassed, spear over shoulder. (obverse)
- Production date
- 214-217
- Dimensions
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Diameter: 42 millimetres
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Weight: 41.600 grammes
- $Inscriptions
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- Curator's comments
- Copper alloy coin of Caracalla, minted in Cyzicus (modern Turkey) in AD 214-217, and scratched with Christian symbols. It probably received its graffiti in later, Christian, centuries. Similar Roman provincial coins have been found in the Roman catacombs where, despite depicting pagan emperors they were saved as their large size made them useful as markers for grave cells. No findspot is recorded for this coin but the scratched Latin word PAX (peace) suggests it ended up much further west than its Greek-speaking place of manufacture.
- Location
- On display (G68/dc6/p1)
- Exhibition history
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Exhibited:
2016-17, 13 Oct - 7 May, BM, G69a Defacing the past: desecration and damnation in imperial Rome
- Acquisition date
- 1906
- Department
- Coins and Medals
- Registration number
- 1906,1010.1
- Additional IDs
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Miscellaneous number: HSBC.1533 (Money Gallery Exhibited)
