RPC Online Feature Coin – Caracalla’s Damnatio of Geta
CARIA, Stratonicaea. Caracalla, with Geta as Caesar. AD 198-217. Æ (37mm, 25.31 g, 12h). Damnatio Memoriae. Jason, son of Kleoboulos,
grammateus. Struck under Septimius Severus, circa AD 205-209. AY KAI MAP AY ANTΩN [...], laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust of Caracalla, seen from behind vis-à-vis [bareheaded, draped, and cuirassed bust of Geta]; c/m: ΘEOY within rectangular incuse / ЄΠI ΓPA IACONO C T OY KΛ Є OBOY CTPATONIK/ЄΩN, Zeus Panamaros, draped, on horseback right, holding transverse scepter in left hand, volumen in right; at feet right, lighted altar. RPC V.2 Online 74178; SNG von Aulock 2685. For c/m: Howgego 536. Red-brown surfaces, light porosity. VF. Portrait of Geta erased, Caracalla’s
damnatio memoriae of Geta applied after his murder in AD 211. Rare.
Upon Septimius’ passing in AD 211, his sons Caracalla and Geta assumed joint rule of the empire. Their joint rule was a failure, the Imperial Palace was separated into two sections and they threatened to divide the empire between them. During the Festival of Saturnalia, December 211, Caracalla tried unsuccessfully to have his brother assassinated. But a week later, at an arranged meeting in their mother’s quarters, Geta was murdered by Caracalla’s centurions.
Caracalla immediately ordered a damnatio memoriae of his brother’s image: statues were removed, paintings were destroyed or, like the Severan Tondo, erased. Coins were recalled to have his image carved out. This damnatio was especially apparent on the provincial coinage of Pergamum in Mysia and Stratonicaea in Caria. It is estimated that approximately 95% of the dual bust types at Stratonicea have had the portrait of Geta erased, many of them having a countermark of Roma or Caracalla stamped over his bust.
