Victory Over Parthia Commemorative

443, Lot: 572. Estimate $100. Sold for $130. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Caracalla. AD 198-217. AR Denarius (18.5mm, 3.01 g, 12h). Rome mint. Struck AD 217. Laureate head right / VICT PARTHICA, Victory seated right on cuirass, inscribing VO/ XX in two lines on shield set on her knee; helmet below. RIC IV 314a note; RSC 656 var. (with javelin and hook in exergue). VF, toned, roughness on reverse. Rare.

In early AD 216, Caracalla assembled a substantial force of at least eight legions along the Syrian frontier for what would prove to be his final victory. The Parthian empire had been engaged in a civil war since 213, with Vologases V in control of half the empire and Artabanus V in control of the other half. Caracalla took advantage of this division and sided with Artabanus, even proposing marriage with Artabanus' daughter to cement the alliance. The plan went awry, however, and Caracalla marched against an unprepared Artabanus. After ravaging the countryside east of the Tigris unhindered, Caracalla returned to Edessa to spend the winter. It is this "victory" that is celebrated on this coin. Caracalla, no doubt, would also have assumed the title Parthicus and celebrated a fourth acclamation as imperator had his life not been suddenly cut short in Carrhae on 8 April 217.