Numismatica Ars Classica
Auction 131 30 May 2022
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Commodus augustus, 177 – 192
Aureus 177-178, AV 7.32 g. L AVREL COM – MODVS AVG Laureate and cuirassed bust r. Rev. TR P III IMP II COS P P Castor standing l., holding staff in his l. hand and bridle of horse standing l. with his r. C 760 var. (also draped). BMC 774 note. RIC 648 var. (also draped). Calicó 2338 (these dies).
In exceptional condition. Virtually as struck and almost Fdc
Ex Leu sale 93, 2005, Perfectionist, 42. Privately purchased from Ratto in June 1960.
The reverse of this lovely aureus shows one of the Dioscuri, Castor, holding a spear in one hand and a horse by the bridle in the other. In mythology, the Dioscuri, Castor and Pollux, were the twin sons of Zeus and Leda, the wife of King Tyndareus of Sparta. Their cult first appears at Rome in 484 B.C. after the battle of Lake Regillus against the Etruscans, when it was said that they appeared on the battlefield to lead the Romans to victory and simultaneously at the Forum in Rome to announce to the worried families of the soldiers their victory. A temple to them both, but usually referred to simply as the Temple of Castor, was built there in their honour. While they play prominently on the coinage struck during Republican times, their appearance on Imperial coins is actually quite rare. Castor had special relevance as the patron of the equites, the Roman social order of knights, and his depiction here symbolizes Commodus as the Prince of Youth (princeps iuventutis), in which role he presided over the Trojan Games where youths from Rome's most noble patrician families competed against each other in horse races in the circus. The obverse is a wonderfully centred and particularly fine-style portrait of the young emperor.
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Aureus 177-178, AV 7.32 g. L AVREL COM – MODVS AVG Laureate and cuirassed bust r. Rev. TR P III IMP II COS P P Castor standing l., holding staff in his l. hand and bridle of horse standing l. with his r. C 760 var. (also draped). BMC 774 note. RIC 648 var. (also draped). Calicó 2338 (these dies).
In exceptional condition. Virtually as struck and almost Fdc
Ex Leu sale 93, 2005, Perfectionist, 42. Privately purchased from Ratto in June 1960.
The reverse of this lovely aureus shows one of the Dioscuri, Castor, holding a spear in one hand and a horse by the bridle in the other. In mythology, the Dioscuri, Castor and Pollux, were the twin sons of Zeus and Leda, the wife of King Tyndareus of Sparta. Their cult first appears at Rome in 484 B.C. after the battle of Lake Regillus against the Etruscans, when it was said that they appeared on the battlefield to lead the Romans to victory and simultaneously at the Forum in Rome to announce to the worried families of the soldiers their victory. A temple to them both, but usually referred to simply as the Temple of Castor, was built there in their honour. While they play prominently on the coinage struck during Republican times, their appearance on Imperial coins is actually quite rare. Castor had special relevance as the patron of the equites, the Roman social order of knights, and his depiction here symbolizes Commodus as the Prince of Youth (princeps iuventutis), in which role he presided over the Trojan Games where youths from Rome's most noble patrician families competed against each other in horse races in the circus. The obverse is a wonderfully centred and particularly fine-style portrait of the young emperor.
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