Commodus (AD 177-192). AV aureus (21mm, 7.22 gm, 1h). NGC AU S 5/5 - 4/5. Rome, AD 184-185. M•COMM•ANT•AVG-P•BRIT•FEL, laureate, draped bust of Commodus right, seen from behind / P M•TR P X•IM-P VII-COS IIII P•P, Commodus, in military dress, standing facing on platform, head left, scepter in left hand, right hand raised, addressing three soldiers standing right at left, each with scutum, aquila, and parazonium; FID•EXERC in exergue. RIC III 110b. Calicó 2250 (this coin). A simply stunning aureus, fully struck from carefully engraved dies, with bright, lustrous fields. From the Paramount Collection. Ex Numismatica Ars Classica, Auction 24 (5 December 2002), lot 118; Numismatica Ars Classica, Auction 11 (29 April 1998), lot 459; Gilbert Steinberg Collection (Numismatica Ars Classica and Spink-Taisei, Auction, 16 November 1994), lot 505 The sole reign of Commodus, AD 180-192, is often viewed as the tipping point where the Roman Empire's long decline began. Commodus has thus been featured in novels, plays, and feature films as a villain, most recently in the cinema epics "Fall of the Roman Empire" (1964) and "Gladiator" (2001). Son of the greatly revered "Philosopher Emperor" Marcus Aurelius (AD 161-180), Commodus was the first emperor born "in the purple," in AD 161. Marcus Aurelius made him co-Augustus in AD 177, and the two emperors embarked on a military campaign against the Germans in AD 178. Worn out by his exertions, Marcus Aurelius died on 17 March AD 180. Freed of his dutiful father's control, Commodus immediately cut a deal with the Germans and abandoned all further plans of military conquest. Returning to Rome, he plunged into sensual pursuits and left governing to a succession of favorites who plundered the public purse and aggrandized themselves. While Commodus continued and worsened the debasement of Roman silver coinage begun by his father, the gold coinage remained of high purity, weight and artistry. This beautiful aureus depicts him as a young man very much in the image of his father. The historians Dio and Herodian both describe him as exceptionally handsome, a picture borne out by his coin portraits and sculpture. Commodus issued this series to rally his troops after the execution of Sextus Tigidius Perennius, the Praetorian Prefect who essentially ran the empire from AD 180-185, until it was revealed he had aspirations of ascending to the throne.

HID09801242017

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