Caracalla augustus, 198 – 217. Aureus, Laodicea 198, AV 22 mm, 7.24 g. IMP CAE M AVR A – NT AVG P TR P Laureate and draped bust r. Rev. MINE – R – V – ICT – RIX Minerva standing l., holding Victory and sceptre; in r. field, trophy. C 158. BMC S. Severus 639. RIC 336a. Calicó 2695 (these dies). Rare. A very interesting issue and an unusual portrait, virtually as struck and almost FdcGraded Ch AU, Strike: 5/5, Surface: 5/5, NGC photo certificate number 8567764-001 Ex NAC sale 71, 2013, Huntington, 252. Ex HSA 30116. Like many Severan issues of A.D. 198, this Minerva Victrix aureus of Caracalla makes reference to the successful war that the royal family had waged against the Parthians. After the Roman army sacked the capital of Ctesiphon late in January, Severus took the title Parthicus Maximus, raised his eldest son Caracalla – then nine years old – from Caesar to Augustus and promoted his youngest son, Geta, to the rank of Caesar. The timing could not have been better scripted, for it occurred on January 28, 198, a century after Trajan had been hailed Parthicus Maximus during his equally impressive campaign against the Parthians. This aureus belongs to one of the first issues struck for Caracalla as emperor. The themes of the reverse types used for his earliest aurei are limited to the new emperor's place in the Severan dynasty and the Parthian victory. However, cause for celebration by the royal family ended soon after the assumption of honors, for on the return journey, Dio tells us Severus made two efforts to take the Arab caravan city of Hatra. Then ruled by King Barsemius, well garrisoned, and defended by massive double walls some four miles long, it had also resisted Trajan's attempts to take it a century before. The first effort in February or March failed quickly, with the burning of siege engines and the death and injury of a great many Roman soldiers; the second effort in the fall or winter of that year was a virtual repeat of the first. Though Severus was unable to take Hatra by force, the larger Roman agenda may have been served, as a few decades later a Roman cohort was stationed there, and some scholars believe it was installed not long after Severus departed. Please find here the video of the coin