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JM34395

Plautilla, Murdered Wife of Caracalla, Silver Denarius, Pietas.

Plautilla, wife of Caracalla (AD 202-205), silver Denarius, Rome, AD 204, PLAVTILLA AVGVSTA, draped bust of Plautilla right, rev. PIETAS AVGG, Pietas standing right, holding sceptre and infant, 3.66g, 12h (RIC IV, i. 367 [Caracalla]; BMC 422). Light copper deposits to reverse, crisp extremely fine.

Plautilla's father, Gaius Fulvius Plautianus, was Septimius Severus's cousin and it seems that the marriage to Caracalla was arranged and enforced. Although Plautianus was commander of the Praetorian Guard and an ally of Severus, he fell out of favour and was executed for treason in AD 205. Not long after, Caracalla ensured Plautilla herself was exiled to Sicily and in AD 211, after the death of Septimius Severus, she was murdered - probably on the orders of Caracalla himself who would also murder his brother and co-emperor, Geta.

The reverse type PIETAS conveys notions of duty and piety, and may possibly allude to the birth of a royal heir. However, the coin was stuck in AD 204, during the reign of Septimius Severus, and belies the fatal tensions which would come to light the following year.

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