Caracalla as Demiourgos

269, Lot: 269. Estimate $200. Sold for $900. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

CILICIA, Tarsus. Caracalla. AD 198-217. Æ (35mm, 20.50 g, 7h). Bust right, wearing garments of the demiourgos / Tyche seated left, holding decastyle temple in each hand. SNG Levante 1059 (this coin); SNG France -. VF, dark green and brown patina, minor scrape in obverse field.

Ex Eduardo Levante Collection (Classical Numismatic Group 70, 21 September 2005), lot 576.

During the third century AD, an especially strong rivalry existed between Tarsus and Anazarbus, as each considered itself to be the most important city in Cilicia. The appearance of the demiourgos crown on the local coinage, whether by itself, or as an adornment of the emperor’s bust, was the clearest indication of imperial preference. Here Caracalla wears both the crown and the chiton of the demiourgos, or public worker, who oversaw the operation of regional festivals and games. The mature portrait on this coin indicates it was struck late in his reign, perhaps during his journey through the eastern provinces in 214/5 while preparing to fight the Parthians. Caracalla’s favoritism toward Tarsus carried into the reign of Elagabalus. By the last year of Elagabalus’ reign, however, imperial preference shifted to rival Anazarbus. Elagabalus’ fickle change of heart, however, did not long endure, as Severus Alexander show that by the time of the Persian campaign of 232, Tarsus had recovered its earlier accolades.