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Ruler: Commodus, 177-192 AD
Denomination: Sestertius
Obverse: M COMMODVS ANTONINVS AVG PIVS, laureate head right
Reverse: TR P VIII IMP VI COS IIII P P S C, Pax standing left, holding branch and cornucopia.
Mint: Rome, 183 AD
Weight: 26,84 g
Diameter: 33 mm
Reference: RIC III 415; Cohen 929; Banti 477; BMCRE pg. 784 note *.
Provenance: Lipsia Numismatics auction 1 lot 266 = ex frankfurter Munzhandlung aution 156 lot 266 (November 2022; hammer 280 EUR) = CGB web shop brm_842050 (sold for 580 EUR)
Note:
Commodus (31 August 161 – 31 December 192) was a Roman emperor who ruled from 177 until his assassination in 192. His original name was Lucius Aelius Aurelius Commodus. For the first three years of his reign, he was co-emperor with his father Marcus Aurelius. Commodus's sole rule, starting with the death of Marcus in 180, is commonly thought to mark the end of a golden age of peace and prosperity in the history of the Roman Empire (the Pax Romana).
He was the son of the reigning emperor, Marcus Aurelius, and Faustina the Younger, the youngest daughter of Emperor Antoninus Pius.
Commodus accompanied his father during the Marcomannic Wars in 172 and on a tour of the Eastern provinces in 176. The following year, he became the youngest emperor and consul up to that point, at the age of 16. His solo reign saw less military conflict than that of Marcus Aurelius, but internal intrigues and conspiracies abounded, goading Commodus to an increasingly dictatorial style of leadership. This culminated in his creating a deific personality cult, including his performances as a gladiator in the Colosseum. Throughout his reign, Commodus entrusted the management of affairs to his palace chamberlain and praetorian prefects, namely Saoterus, Perennis and Cleander.
Upon his ascension, Commodus devalued the Roman currency. He reduced the weight of the denarius from 96 per Roman pound to 105 per Roman pound (3.85 grams to 3.35 grams). He also reduced the silver purity from 79 percent to 76 percent – the silver weight dropping from 2.57 grams to 2.34 grams. In 186, he further reduced the purity and silver weight to 74 percent and 2.22 grams respectively, being 108 to the Roman pound.[23] His reduction of the denarius during his rule was the largest since the empire's first devaluation during Nero's reign.
In November 192, Commodus held Plebeian Games, in which he shot hundreds of animals with arrows and javelins every morning, and fought as a gladiator every afternoon, winning all the fights. In December, he announced his intention to inaugurate the year 193 as both consul and gladiator on 1 January.
When Marcia found a list of people Commodus intended to have executed, she discovered that she, the prefect Laetus, and Eclectus were on it. The three of them plotted to assassinate the emperor.
On 31 December 192, Marcia poisoned Commodus' food, but he vomited up the poison, so the conspirators sent his wrestling partner Narcissus to strangle him in his bath.
Upon his death, the Senate declared him a public enemy (a de facto damnatio memoriae) and restored the original name of the city of Rome and its institutions. Statues of Commodus were demolished. His body was buried in the Mausoleum of Hadrian.
Commodus' death marked the end of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. Commodus was succeeded by Pertinax, whose reign was short; he became the first claimant to be usurped during the Year of the Five Emperors.
In 195, the emperor Septimius Severus, trying to gain favour with the family of Marcus Aurelius, rehabilitated Commodus' memory and had the Senate deify him.
He was succeeded by Pertinax, the first claimant in the tumultuous Year of the Five Emperors.
Collection : 30 Roman Sestertii, asses and dupondii