Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XXII 7-8 Oct 2021
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Commodus AV Aureus. Rome, AD 190-191. M COMM ANT P FEL AVG BRIT P P, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust to right / MIN•AVG•P M TR P XVI COS VI, Minerva hurrying to right, head reverted, holding branch, spear and shield. RIC III 222d; BMCRE 301 note; Calicó 2286. 7.23g, 21mm, 12h.
Near Mint State. Very Rare; one of only four examples offered at auction in the past two decades.
From the Altstetten Collection, kept in the vault of Crédit Suisse Geneva (documentation available upon request) since 26 November 1969.
Commodus is often credited by ancient sources with the near destruction of the Roman Empire, through a combination of disinterest in governance and an all-consuming belief that he was of god-like status. With his accession, says the contemporary historian Cassius Dio "our history now descends from a kingdom of gold to one of iron and rust, as affairs did for the Romans of that day" (LXXII.36.4).
The reverse of this stunning aureus depicts Minerva, daughter of Jupiter and a member of the Capitoline Triad; she had been the patron deity of Domitian, and perhaps ignoring the failure of the goddess to protect his predecessor, Commodus here solicits her favour. The other types of Commodus featured on the coinage of his later years also boldly proclaim his aspirations to divinity.
Near Mint State. Very Rare; one of only four examples offered at auction in the past two decades.
From the Altstetten Collection, kept in the vault of Crédit Suisse Geneva (documentation available upon request) since 26 November 1969.
Commodus is often credited by ancient sources with the near destruction of the Roman Empire, through a combination of disinterest in governance and an all-consuming belief that he was of god-like status. With his accession, says the contemporary historian Cassius Dio "our history now descends from a kingdom of gold to one of iron and rust, as affairs did for the Romans of that day" (LXXII.36.4).
The reverse of this stunning aureus depicts Minerva, daughter of Jupiter and a member of the Capitoline Triad; she had been the patron deity of Domitian, and perhaps ignoring the failure of the goddess to protect his predecessor, Commodus here solicits her favour. The other types of Commodus featured on the coinage of his later years also boldly proclaim his aspirations to divinity.