Caracalla Options

[JGolomb]

This bust of Caracalla is going up for auction and is estimated to pull in about 250,000 pounds. It's popped up a number of times on the feeds and blogs that I track and, honestly, I think it's a terrific piece of work. It carries the weight of a sense of menace, power and emotion. This image alone makes me want to learn more about the Emperor.

Bust of Caracalla goes on Auction Block

[Gaius Paulinus M...]

This image alone makes me want to learn more about the Emperor.

It also makes me wish I had a spare £250,000 knocking about too!!

In all seriousness though it is a fantastic bust and whoever buys it will be a very lucky person.

Take a look HERE for an interesting albeit brief account of Caracalla's life.

This post has been edited by Gaius Paulinus Maximus: Oct 26 2009, 06:41 PM

[Axel]

This image alone makes me want to learn more about the Emperor.

It also makes me wish I had a spare £250,000 knocking about too!!

In all seriousness though it is a fantastic bust and whoever buys it will be a very lucky person.

Take a look HERE for an interesting albeit brief account of Caracalla's life.

This is The Arch of Caracalla in Djemilla, numidia (Actual Algeria).
Recent photo.



Original : Photographer Toufik (Gostokom) on Flickr :
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wipion/2791336272/

[caldrail]

It just proves that advertising is nothing new. Bad boy Caracalla was only too keen to project a Mr Nasty image. That is after all what busts were for regarding living characters. Advertisements for the personality cult.

[sylla]

This bust of Caracalla is going up for auction and is estimated to pull in about 250,000 pounds. It's popped up a number of times on the feeds and blogs that I track and, honestly, I think it's a terrific piece of work. It carries the weight of a sense of menace, power and emotion. This image alone makes me want to learn more about the Emperor.

Lucius Septimius Bassianus Marcus Aurelius Antonianus (aka Caracalla only by historians) was a fascinating character who is currently still wanting a detailed study.
Aside form brief mentions (eg, from Ammianus, Eusebius, Eutropius, Orosius, Victor and maybe a couple more) and the detailed but entirely unreliable Historia Augusta, the main sources are the primary accounts from Cassius Dio (books 78-79) and Herodian (book 4), complementary but sometimes contradictory.
The main problem with such sources is not so much that they were universally hostile as that they tell us hardly anything more about him; impollute sadism was the sole explanation for all his actions.
Epigraphic, numismatic and archaeological evidence give us a much more complex image of this emperor and his administration; eg, the Persian projects, the building program, the tax reform, the new coins, the military reforms, his religious policy and of course the notable Constitutio Antoniana, ie the granting of Roman citizenship to all free individuals within the Empire.
The latter is even nowadays frequently explained (from Dio) simply as a manouver to collect more taxes; an utterly absurd explanation, as no Roman Emperor was ever restrained from taxing any Roman (citizen or not) as much as he pleased.

This post has been edited by sylla: Oct 31 2009, 09:58 AM

[Northern Neil]

... his religious policy and of course the notable Constitutio Antoniana, ie the granting of Roman citizenship to all free individuals within the Empire.
The latter is even nowadays frequently explained (from Dio) simply as a manouver to collect more taxes; an utterly absurd explanation, as no Roman Emperor was ever restrained from taxing any Roman (citizen or not) as much as he pleased.

Maybe he foresaw the disunity in the Empire which was to become very problematic a decade or two later, and this was his attempt to address it. Later emperors used religion to this purpose.

[sylla]

... his religious policy and of course the notable Constitutio Antoniana, ie the granting of Roman citizenship to all free individuals within the Empire.
The latter is even nowadays frequently explained (from Dio) simply as a manouver to collect more taxes; an utterly absurd explanation, as no Roman Emperor was ever restrained from taxing any Roman (citizen or not) as much as he pleased.

Maybe he foresaw the disunity in the Empire which was to become very problematic a decade or two later, and this was his attempt to address it. Later emperors used religion to this purpose.

Antoninus himself mentioned in an edict a religious goal, specifically increasing the number of worshippers of the Roman gods.
Needless to say, that is hardly convincing; why couldn’t the peregrine worship those same deities?

[caldrail]

... his religious policy and of course the notable Constitutio Antoniana, ie the granting of Roman citizenship to all free individuals within the Empire.
The latter is even nowadays frequently explained (from Dio) simply as a manouver to collect more taxes; an utterly absurd explanation, as no Roman Emperor was ever restrained from taxing any Roman (citizen or not) as much as he pleased.

Maybe he foresaw the disunity in the Empire which was to become very problematic a decade or two later, and this was his attempt to address it. Later emperors used religion to this purpose.

An interesting point, considering Caracalla had all the hallmarks of a warrior-emperor. Definitely a soldiers man. Somewhat ironic then a Roman soldier killed him on campaign. The problem with individuals in that sort of powerful position is that if they become focused on military activity (as Caracalla clearly wanted to) it tends to be at the expense of everything else. Now of course he did instigate civic improvements. As history shows, emperors were usually a tad cynical about that, as public benificence was expected of a wealthy ruler (and interestingly, would remain a characteristic of Italian culture even as late as the Renaissance).

Caracalla may have been a very hard-nosed individual (am I being too generous?) but he wasn't stupid. Keep the Romans sweet. Unfortunately, his ideas of how to do that would have also included military glory and triumphs to warm the Roman heart. It remains unlikely he would have conquered Parthia, which as a region showed considerable resilience over the centuries in resisting Roman aggression, and he he not been assassinated you have to ask whether his reign was going to be remembered fondly even with his efforts to appear a beneficent ruler on the home front.

[sylla]

... his religious policy and of course the notable Constitutio Antoniana, ie the granting of Roman citizenship to all free individuals within the Empire.
The latter is even nowadays frequently explained (from Dio) simply as a manouver to collect more taxes; an utterly absurd explanation, as no Roman Emperor was ever restrained from taxing any Roman (citizen or not) as much as he pleased.

Maybe he foresaw the disunity in the Empire which was to become very problematic a decade or two later, and this was his attempt to address it. Later emperors used religion to this purpose.

An interesting point, considering Caracalla had all the hallmarks of a warrior-emperor. Definitely a soldiers man. Somewhat ironic then a Roman soldier killed him on campaign. The problem with individuals in that sort of powerful position is that if they become focused on military activity (as Caracalla clearly wanted to) it tends to be at the expense of everything else. Now of course he did instigate civic improvements. As history shows, emperors were usually a tad cynical about that, as public benificence was expected of a wealthy ruler (and interestingly, would remain a characteristic of Italian culture even as late as the Renaissance).

Caracalla may have been a very hard-nosed individual (am I being too generous?) but he wasn't stupid. Keep the Romans sweet. Unfortunately, his ideas of how to do that would have also included military glory and triumphs to warm the Roman heart. It remains unlikely he would have conquered Parthia, which as a region showed considerable resilience over the centuries in resisting Roman aggression, and he he not been assassinated you have to ask whether his reign was going to be remembered fondly even with his efforts to appear a beneficent ruler on the home front.

We mostly agree here; on his Persian project, our more than nasty boy might have had a better chance than usually imagined, as it seems the project was more dynastic than military.
After all, today we know in hindsight the Arsacids were living their last hours; with a little more luck, a Roman-friendly monarchy may very well have succeeded them, instead of the Sassanids as it actually happened.

This post has been edited by sylla: Nov 1 2009, 11:40 PM

[JGolomb]

This image alone makes me want to learn more about the Emperor.

It also makes me wish I had a spare £250,000 knocking about too!!

In all seriousness though it is a fantastic bust and whoever buys it will be a very lucky person.

Take a look HERE for an interesting albeit brief account of Caracalla's life.

This is The Arch of Caracalla in Djemilla, numidia (Actual Algeria).
Recent photo.

I'm sure it has something to do with the lighting of this picture, but the Arch looks downright intimidating...

J

[sylla]

I'm sure it has something to do with the lighting of this picture, but the Arch looks downright intimidating...

According to Cassius Dio (as quoted by PP) that's the way it should be.

[JGolomb]

This bust of Caracalla is going up for auction and is estimated to pull in about 250,000 pounds. It's popped up a number of times on the feeds and blogs that I track and, honestly, I think it's a terrific piece of work. It carries the weight of a sense of menace, power and emotion. This image alone makes me want to learn more about the Emperor.

Bust of Caracalla goes on Auction Block

The auction for this item was to have taken place on 10/28. I spent some time this morning on Bonham's site and while many items on this day were sold, there was still only the estimate price for the Caracalla bust on the webpage. I take this to mean that it wasn't, in fact, sold.

Maybe we should take donations from the community and purchase it ourselves? Each participating UNRV community member can have it for one week. We'll take it around our hometowns and show it off like champion NHLers do with the Stanley Cup. :-)

It'll look mighty nice on my Thanksgiving Day table.

J

[sylla]

This bust of Caracalla is going up for auction and is estimated to pull in about 250,000 pounds. It's popped up a number of times on the feeds and blogs that I track and, honestly, I think it's a terrific piece of work. It carries the weight of a sense of menace, power and emotion. This image alone makes me want to learn more about the Emperor.

Bust of Caracalla goes on Auction Block

The auction for this item was to have taken place on 10/28. I spent some time this morning on Bonham's site and while many items on this day were sold, there was still only the estimate price for the Caracalla bust on the webpage. I take this to mean that it wasn't, in fact, sold.

Maybe we should take donations from the community and purchase it ourselves? Each participating UNRV community member can have it for one week. We'll take it around our hometowns and show it off like champion NHLers do with the Stanley Cup. :-)

It'll look mighty nice on my Thanksgiving Day table.

J

Agreed, but the same as the Arch in Djemilla (and irrespectively of lighting) it would still look downright intimidating.