Watch List notes:

The Roman Empire
Commodus augustus, 177 – 192

Denarius 191-192, AR 3.95 g. L AEL AVREL C – OMM AVG P FEL Head r., wearing lion's skin headdress. Rev. HERCVL – I ROMA – NO AVG Club flanked by bow and quiver. C 195. BMC 343 (these dies). RIC 253.
Old cabinet tone and about extremely fine


Ex Aufhäuser sale 16, 2001, 353.

Few Roman coins excite as much commentary as those of Commodus which show him possessed of Hercules. Not only do they present an extraordinary image, but they offer incontrovertible support to the literary record. The reports of Commodus' megalomania and infatuation with Hercules are so alarming and fanciful that if the numismatic record was not there to confirm, modern historians would almost certainly regard the literary record as an absurd version of affairs, much in the way reports of Tiberius' depraved behaviour on Capri are considered to be callous exaggerations. Faced with such rich and diverse evidence, there can be no question that late in his life Commodus believed that Hercules was his divine patron. Indeed, he worshipped the demigod so intensely that he renamed the month of September after him, and he eventually came to believe himself an incarnation of the mythological hero. The Herculian imagery on this famous coin type is arresting. Though the concept of an emperor donning a lion's scalp was novel to coinage, it would have compared favourably to the countless images throughout the empire of Hercules in his mature, bearded incarnation. The reverse depicts familiar instruments of the hero: the club, bow, and quiver with arrows. By tradition, Hercules had fashioned his knotted club from a wild olive tree that he tore from the soil of Mount Helicon and subsequently used to kill the lion of Cithaeron when he was only 18 years old. Probably the most familiar account of his bow and arrows was his shooting of the Stymphalian birds while fulfilling his sixth labour. The reverse inscription HERCVLI ROMANO AVG ('to the August Roman Hercules') makes the coin all the more interesting, especially when it put into context with those of contemporary coins inscribed HERCVLI COMMODO AVG, which amounts to a dedication 'to Hercules Comodus Augustus'