As Caracalla - Indulgentia in Carthage
CARACALLA (under SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS). Æ As. Rome, 203 AD
Obv. ANTONINVS PIVS AVG PONT TR P VI Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right.
Rev. INDVLGENTIA AVGG IN CARTH Dea Caelestis, wearing elaborate headdress and holding drum and scepter, seated facing on lion leaping right over a stream of water flowing from rocks to left.
Cohen 99 (8 F)
Dea Caelestis, who was also equated with Cybele and Magna Mater, was the patron goddess of Carthage. More than one representation for this type exist, with the deity holding different attributes, and thus it is not the representation of a particular statue, the one on the Circus Maximus spina as states Hill. Rather, it seems to be a common representation for Cybele, as a personification of Carthage; a similar and rare type, INDVLGENTIA AVGG IN ITALIAM, struck for Septimius Severus and Caracalla at around the same time features Italia seated on globe.
Cybele/Dea Caelestis appears here, riding on a lion above a stream of water flowing from a rocky source, to commemorate a major series of public works at Carthage, maybe including an important aqueduct built to supply the city with water.
Scarce.
From CGB ROME VIII.
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