Alexandria Troas, Caracalla, 218-222 AD.,
Æ As (23 mm / 7,65 g),
Obv.: ANTONI - NVS PIVS AVG , laureate, cuirassed bust of Caracalla right, gorgoneion on breastplate.
Rev.: COL AL - EXAN AVG , Apollo Smintheus nude, bending left, left hand on hip, right foot on basis, right elbow on knee, right hand holding laurel branch.
Bellinger A298 .
Lars R.:
"Bellinger is very inaccurate as far as legends are concerned. In the introduction to Caracalla 210-215 he himself says that There is a great variety in abbreviation and in the breaking of the legend but these details have no chronological value or any association with particular types and I shall therefore record only the ones with some distinctive feature.
The legend varieties on these coins are huge, and no one has ever tried to arrange them like in RIC. I usually just attribute them to the corresponding Bellinger number, based on the reverse, even if there is some legend variety. On yours, the legend either reads as you propose, or with an additional M AV(R) below the bust, off flan on your specimen. There is, in my opinion, no way that your coin could be Elagabal, who's head is always very youthful (with the exception of A311 and A312, probably from early in the reign, using Caracalla's picture - I actually wonder whether these are Caracalla too, even though the SE in the obverse legend is surprising and the head looks slightly younger than normally) and often of sloppy style.
Note that in earlier catalogues it is quite normal to find Caracalla and Elagabal mixed up. Nowadays, with Bellinger's observations it is more easy to divide them. Your coin belongs to the last period, which Bellinger marks as 214-215, but I usually date them to 214-217 AD since I find it hard to believe that the mint stopped issueing coins after the emperor left the city."
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