Ave!

Caracalla, Denarius, Dea Caelestis reverse, OMG!

AR; 18mm/2.9gm   Rome Mint -- 203 A.D. 

Con/ Perfectly centered and sharply struck with fresh dies. A lustrous example with a superb portrait of the 7-year-old emperor and an extraordinarily crisp reverse preserving excellent details. Small flan break, otherwise, Extremely Fine.   

Obv/ ANTONINVS PIVS AVG; Laureate and draped bust right..

Rev/ INDVLGENTIA AVGG; Dea Caelestis (the Heavenly Goddess) sitting facing, turreted head to right, on a leaping lion, holding thunderbolt and scepter above waters gushing from rocks flowing to the right.; in exergue, INCART[H]

Ref/ RIC Vol IVa 130a; RSC III 97

Sellers Note/ This Issue was struck to commemorate the generosity (INDVLGENTIA) of the emperors (Septimius Severus and his son Antoninus "Caracalla") with the city of Carthage upon the completion of a new aqueduct, hence the flowing water seen on the reverse. One of the Heavenly Goddess' attributes was a lion and many of her early Carthaginian representations depict her with the head of a lion. 

Dea Caelestis is the Latin name for the chief Punic-Roman goddess, primarily representing the Carthaginian deity Tanit. She was worshiped as a goddess of fertility, war, and the moon, and was later integrated into Roman religion as a form of Juno (Juno Caelestis), embodying a "virginal" mother figure and protector of Carthage.