Watch List notes:

THE ROMAN EMPIRE
Pertinax, January 1st – March 28th 193

Aureus 1st January-March 28th 193, AV 7.27 g. IMP CAES P HELV – PERTIN AVG Laureate head r. Rev. PROVID – DEOR COS II Providentia standing l., raising both hands toward star in upper l. field. C 39. BMC 10. RIC 10a. Calicó 2387 (this reverse die).
Rare. A magnificent portrait in the finest style of the period.
Virtually as struck and almost Fdc


Ex NAC sale 59, 2011, 1037.
A self-made man who rose to prominence through dedication and talent, Pertinax's career was illustrious. His father was a former slave and merchant whose wealth bought Pertinax a good education. Pertinax began his adult life as a teacher, but afterwards he embarked on a military career. He rose through the ranks serving in Parthia, Britain and Noricum, and he subsequently served as governor of several provinces. In 189 the emperor Commodus appointed him prefect of Rome, and he was still serving in that capacity when Commodus was assassinated on New Year's Eve, 192. Though Pertinax has often been portrayed as an unimpeachable moralist, he was more likely an opportunist who was intimately involved in the plot against Commodus. After his accession, Pertinax may have viewed himself as a benevolent dictator, but the praetorians nonetheless murdered him after a reign of just eighty-six days.