338, Lot: 185. Estimate $100. Sold for $260. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

CILICIA, Tarsus. Caracalla. AD 198-217. Æ (33mm, 14.07 g, 6h). Mantled bust right, wearing demiourgic crown / Herakles holding Antaeus around the waist and raising him from the ground. SNG France –; SNG Levante 1057; SNG Pfälzer 1360. Near Fine, green and brown patina, light roughness.

A giant of Libya and the son of Poseidon and Gaia (the earth goddess), Antaeus would challenge travelers to wrestling matches, easily killing his opponents and collecting their bones to construct a temple to his father. It was en route to the Garden of Hesperides to complete his eleventh labor that Hercules met Antaeus. A wrestling match ensued, but Hercules was unable to finish his opponent as Antaeus regained his strength each time the hero threw him to the ground. Realizing Antaeus’ strength waned as the he left the earth (i.e., the protective realm of his mother), Hercules lifted the giant aloft while crushing him to death.

Caracalla wears both the crown and the mantle of the demiourgos, the official who oversaw the operation of regional festivals and games.