Æ16 - Elagabalus ΚΑΡ ΚΟΛω Π

Carrhae's civic bronze issues under Elagabalus are among the more obscure products of the Roman provincial system in Mesopotamia — a region the emperor never visited and barely administered. The city itself carried enormous psychological weight in Roman memory: it was outside Carrhae in 53 BC that Crassus suffered the catastrophic defeat against the Parthians that cost Rome seven legions and, according to ancient sources, the capture of the standards that Augustus later recovered through diplomacy.

The colonial title encoded in the legend reflects Caracalla's grant of colonia status to Carrhae, a privilege Elagabalus inherited without ceremony.