Medallion with Roman Emperor Caracalla

Together with 59.1 and 59.2, this piece was discovered in Egypt as part of a hoard that comprised about twenty similar medallions (now dispersed among various museums), eighteen gold ingots, and six hundred gold coins issued by Roman emperors from Severus Alexander (r. AD 222-235) to Constantius I (r. AD 293-306). One of the medallions, now in the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon, bears an inscription that possibly reads "Olympic games of the year 274", a date corresponding to AD 242-243. It is possible that the medallions were intended as prizes to be given out at that event. Alternatively, they may have been issued by Emperor Caracalla (ruled 198-217 AD), who is potrayed on the present one in profile, bearing a shield on his shoulder decorated with the image of Nike in a racing-chariot. The back depicts Caracalla's distant predecessor King Alexander of Macedon (r. 336-323 BC) in short chiton and chlamys (a cloak) hunting a boar. This depiction of a royal hunt was intended to emphasize the prowess that Alexander also showed in battle.