Editing Caracalla (section)

=== Monetary reform ===
During the Severan period, trade with the East and in particular with Palmyra, Ethiopia, Syria and India developed greatly. The trade mainly concerned spices, silk and exotic animals indispensable for circus games. Caracalla's army also possessed elephants, but the continuous wars nevertheless put the imperial coffers in difficulty and forced the emperor to decrease the amount of silver in the money by 25%, due to the increase in the soldiers' pay; then he minted a new coin, in 215 A.D., which was worth two regular denarii.