Nomos AG
obolos 4 21 February 2016
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Pertinax, 193. Denarius (Silver, 17mm, 3.20 g 12), Rome. IMP CAES P HELV PERTIN AVG Laureate head of Pertinax to right. Rev. LAETITIA TEMPOR COS II Laetitia standing left, holding wreath in her right hand and scepter with her left. BMC 8. Cohen 20. RIC 4a. Rare. Minor deposits on the reverse, otherwise, very fine.
The son of a freedman, Publius Helvius Pertinax never-the-less seems to have espoused all the traditional Roman virtues. He received a good education and his first career was that of a teacher, but he soon gave that up and went into the army. His abilities were great and he rapidly advanced to high rank. Made a senator by Marcus Aurelius and consul in 175, he governed several provinces, including Syria, Britain and Africa (where he suppressed a revolt in 188-189). By 192, when he entered into his second consulship, he was prefect of Rome, and almost had to have known about the conspiracy formed late that year to dispatch Commodus, who had intended to assume his eighth consulate on 1 January 193 dressed as a gladiator, an action that was viewed with horror by virtually all senior governmental officials. After the murder, Pertinax was made emperor, but like Galba 124 years earlier, his reforms and economies enraged the soldiery, especially the Praetorians, and in a mutiny they invaded the palace and murdered him on 28 March, 193. Most of Pertinax's portraits are really quite elegant: they show him with a finely curled beard and the expression of a severe albeit noble philosopher.
The son of a freedman, Publius Helvius Pertinax never-the-less seems to have espoused all the traditional Roman virtues. He received a good education and his first career was that of a teacher, but he soon gave that up and went into the army. His abilities were great and he rapidly advanced to high rank. Made a senator by Marcus Aurelius and consul in 175, he governed several provinces, including Syria, Britain and Africa (where he suppressed a revolt in 188-189). By 192, when he entered into his second consulship, he was prefect of Rome, and almost had to have known about the conspiracy formed late that year to dispatch Commodus, who had intended to assume his eighth consulate on 1 January 193 dressed as a gladiator, an action that was viewed with horror by virtually all senior governmental officials. After the murder, Pertinax was made emperor, but like Galba 124 years earlier, his reforms and economies enraged the soldiery, especially the Praetorians, and in a mutiny they invaded the palace and murdered him on 28 March, 193. Most of Pertinax's portraits are really quite elegant: they show him with a finely curled beard and the expression of a severe albeit noble philosopher.