Commodus augustus, 177 – 192
Sestertius 192, Æ 27.77 g. L AEL AVREL CO – MM AVG P FEL Laureate head r. Rev. PROVID – ENTIAE – AVG Hercules standing l., r. foot on prow, clasping hands with Africa; at her feet, lion; in exergue, S C. C 644. BMC 718 and pl. 3, 4 (this reverse die). RIC 641. Very rare and in exceptional condition for this difficult issue. A bold portrait struck on an exceptionally broad flan and an interesting reverse composition. Wonderful untouched green patina and extremely fine Ex Lanz 120, 2004, 366 (illustrated on the front and back cover pages); NAC 52, 2009, 492; Heritage 3032, 2014, 23965 and NAC 97, 2016, America, 171 sales. From the Dr. Patrick Tan collection. Struck during the final year of his reign in A.D. 192, this magnificent and incredibly rare sestertius of Commodus shows the emperor in the guise of Hercules receiving from Africa the grain ears which represent that province's most vital gift, its bountiful harvests which kept the people of Rome fed. The legend on the reverse, PROVIDENTIAE AVG, loudly proclaims the foresight of the emperor in providing for Rome's denizens, an important reference in hindsight to the grain shortage and outbreak of plague that afflicted the city just two years before. The blame for that disaster had been cleverly laid at the feet of Cleander, Commodus' notoriously rapacious and universally despised freedman, by Papirius Dionysius, the Roman official in charge of Rome's grain supply (praefectus annonae). During the shortage, rioting had formed during the races in the Circus Maximus and Cleander tried to suppress the mob by sending in the Praetorian Guard. Rome's city prefect (praefectus urbanus), the soon-to-be emperor Pertinax, dispatched the vigiles to oppose them and Cleander fled to Commodus. He was followed by the mob who demanded his head, and Commodus conveniently obliged.