Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XXIII 24-25 Mar 2022
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Crispina (wife of Commodus) AV Aureus. Rome, AD 180-183. CRISPINA AVGVSTA, draped bust to right / VENVS•FELIX, Venus seated to left, holding Cupid, who grasps open diadem, and sceptre; dove standing to left below chair. RIC III 287 (Commodus) corr. (Cupid, not Victory); C. 39; BMCRE 49 (Commodus) corr. (same); Biaggi 1034; Calicó 2377 corr. (same). 7.17g, 20mm, 6h.
Fleur De Coin; a portrait of marvellous style. Scarce.
From the Altstetten Collection, kept in the vault of Crédit Suisse Geneva (documentation available upon request) since 26 November 1969.
At first glance this sensually draped portrait of the goddess Venus - associated with beauty, love and sexuality - seems an appropriate reverse type for a coin minted in the name of Bruttia Crispina, the young wife of Commodus. From an illustrious aristocratic family closely associated with the imperial family since the time of Trajan and able to count her father as well as maternal and paternal grandfathers as former consuls, she was reportedly exceptionally beautiful as her youthful profile and intricate, elegant hairstyle in this portrait suggest.
Crispina was fourteen when she was married to Commodus, then Caesar and around two years her senior, in AD 178. The first legitimate biological son to be born to an emperor since Vespasian, Commodus succeeded his father as sole ruler in 180, whereupon Crispina was given the title of Augusta. Conspicuous on the Roman coinage, Antonine empresses followed the extensive Hadrianic issues in the name of his wife Sabina - a significant divergence from the Flavian and Trajanic coinage, on which the imperial women only had a token presence.
Beyond her youthful good looks the similarities with Venus, the mythical mother of Aeneas (and by extension the Roman people), quickly begin to diminish. 'Felix' can mean both 'lucky' or 'fruitful' - a title highlighting Venus's association with fertility and prosperity as also represented by the presence of Cupid, her son, and a dove in her portrait. Neither of these traits characterise either Commodus' reign or Bruttia's life: Commodus, a megalomaniac, grew ever more capricious and often had prominent citizens tortured or murdered in horrific ways; Crispina meanwhile remained childless, causing a dynastic succession crisis. The marriage was plagued by Commodus' extravagant extramarital indiscretions, yet in 182 it was Crispina who was (falsely) accused of adultery and banished by the emperor to the island of Capri, divorced a year later, and eventually strangled on his orders. The Historia Augusta notes her adulterous behaviour as the cause, but historians often associate her demise with implication in her sister-in-law Lucilla's plot to assassinate Commodus.
Fleur De Coin; a portrait of marvellous style. Scarce.
From the Altstetten Collection, kept in the vault of Crédit Suisse Geneva (documentation available upon request) since 26 November 1969.
At first glance this sensually draped portrait of the goddess Venus - associated with beauty, love and sexuality - seems an appropriate reverse type for a coin minted in the name of Bruttia Crispina, the young wife of Commodus. From an illustrious aristocratic family closely associated with the imperial family since the time of Trajan and able to count her father as well as maternal and paternal grandfathers as former consuls, she was reportedly exceptionally beautiful as her youthful profile and intricate, elegant hairstyle in this portrait suggest.
Crispina was fourteen when she was married to Commodus, then Caesar and around two years her senior, in AD 178. The first legitimate biological son to be born to an emperor since Vespasian, Commodus succeeded his father as sole ruler in 180, whereupon Crispina was given the title of Augusta. Conspicuous on the Roman coinage, Antonine empresses followed the extensive Hadrianic issues in the name of his wife Sabina - a significant divergence from the Flavian and Trajanic coinage, on which the imperial women only had a token presence.
Beyond her youthful good looks the similarities with Venus, the mythical mother of Aeneas (and by extension the Roman people), quickly begin to diminish. 'Felix' can mean both 'lucky' or 'fruitful' - a title highlighting Venus's association with fertility and prosperity as also represented by the presence of Cupid, her son, and a dove in her portrait. Neither of these traits characterise either Commodus' reign or Bruttia's life: Commodus, a megalomaniac, grew ever more capricious and often had prominent citizens tortured or murdered in horrific ways; Crispina meanwhile remained childless, causing a dynastic succession crisis. The marriage was plagued by Commodus' extravagant extramarital indiscretions, yet in 182 it was Crispina who was (falsely) accused of adultery and banished by the emperor to the island of Capri, divorced a year later, and eventually strangled on his orders. The Historia Augusta notes her adulterous behaviour as the cause, but historians often associate her demise with implication in her sister-in-law Lucilla's plot to assassinate Commodus.