Æ21 - Caracalla

Carrhae occupies an uncomfortable place in Roman memory — it was where Crassus and seven legions were destroyed by the Parthians in 53 BC, and where Caracalla himself traveled in 217 AD, reportedly reenacting Alexander's campaigns before being murdered on the road to the city by a soldier who needed to urinate and used the stop as cover. The town's civic coinage under Caracalla reflects its status as a frontier garrison point rather than a prosperous urban center, which accounts for the generally rough fabric and inconsistent striking pressure seen across the type.