DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.15100#0049
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PLATE XII.
BUST OF CARACALLA.
A Bust of the Emperor Caracalla, clothed in the paludamentmn.
He was the son of Sept. Severus and Julia Domna, and bore the
names of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Bassianus, the last of which
was omitted upon all his coins. The name of Caracalla was con-
ferred upon him, in consequence of a peculiar cloak1 which he
adopted from Gaul for the use of his soldiers, and which, having
given it a greater length, he wore himself, and required his courtiers
to wear in his presence. In his youth he is said to have been
mild, affable, and agreeable ;2 but, when he became invested with
power, to have indulged in every species of cruelty, and to have
assumed the savage frown which marks the bust under consi-
deration. He was3 small in person and was desirous of being
thought like4 Alexander; in imitation of whom he assumed the
scowl and inclination of the head observable in this and most of
1 Ferrarius de Re Vestiar. pars. ii. lib. i. cap. 27, apud Graevii Thes. Ant. Rom.
torn. vi. Du Cange, Glos. Med. et Inf. Latin, and Pitiscus, Lexicon Antiq. Roman.
Caracalla.
2 Hujus igitur pueritia blanda, ingeniosa, parentibus afFabilis.-Egressus ve.ro
pueritiam — gravior, vultu etiam truculentior factus est, prorsus ut eum, quern
puerum scirunt, multi esse non crederent. Spartian. in vit. Caracall. c. 2, apud Hist.
Aug. Script.
3 Cf. Herodian. Bekker. lib. iv. c. 7- iv jUiK/o<j> wavv to ntyeOog au>/xari.
4 Corpore Alexandri Macedonis conspecto, Magnum atque Alexandrum se jussit
appellari, adsentantium fallaciis eo perductus, ut truci fronte, et ad lsevum humerum
conversa cervice, quod in ore Alexandri notaverat, incedens, fidem vultus simillimi
persuaderet sibi. Aur. Victoris De Vit. et Mor. Impp. Roman. Epitome, Arntzen. Am-
stel. 1733, c. xxi.
PLATE XII.
BUST OF CARACALLA.
A Bust of the Emperor Caracalla, clothed in the paludamentmn.
He was the son of Sept. Severus and Julia Domna, and bore the
names of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Bassianus, the last of which
was omitted upon all his coins. The name of Caracalla was con-
ferred upon him, in consequence of a peculiar cloak1 which he
adopted from Gaul for the use of his soldiers, and which, having
given it a greater length, he wore himself, and required his courtiers
to wear in his presence. In his youth he is said to have been
mild, affable, and agreeable ;2 but, when he became invested with
power, to have indulged in every species of cruelty, and to have
assumed the savage frown which marks the bust under consi-
deration. He was3 small in person and was desirous of being
thought like4 Alexander; in imitation of whom he assumed the
scowl and inclination of the head observable in this and most of
1 Ferrarius de Re Vestiar. pars. ii. lib. i. cap. 27, apud Graevii Thes. Ant. Rom.
torn. vi. Du Cange, Glos. Med. et Inf. Latin, and Pitiscus, Lexicon Antiq. Roman.
Caracalla.
2 Hujus igitur pueritia blanda, ingeniosa, parentibus afFabilis.-Egressus ve.ro
pueritiam — gravior, vultu etiam truculentior factus est, prorsus ut eum, quern
puerum scirunt, multi esse non crederent. Spartian. in vit. Caracall. c. 2, apud Hist.
Aug. Script.
3 Cf. Herodian. Bekker. lib. iv. c. 7- iv jUiK/o<j> wavv to ntyeOog au>/xari.
4 Corpore Alexandri Macedonis conspecto, Magnum atque Alexandrum se jussit
appellari, adsentantium fallaciis eo perductus, ut truci fronte, et ad lsevum humerum
conversa cervice, quod in ore Alexandri notaverat, incedens, fidem vultus simillimi
persuaderet sibi. Aur. Victoris De Vit. et Mor. Impp. Roman. Epitome, Arntzen. Am-
stel. 1733, c. xxi.