Available for sale today is a NGC graded Very Fine Commodus AE Sestertius Coin.
Obverse: M COMMODVS ANTONINVS AVG PIVS, featuring a laureate head facing right. Reverse: P M TR P VIIII IMP VI COS IIII P P, S-C. Depicts Pax seated to the left, holding a branch and cornucopia. Minted in Rome, circa 183-184 AD. Reference: Cohen 453, RIC III #405.
About Commodus 177-192 AD
Commodus vies with Caligula and Nero as one of Roman history's most perverse and sadistic rulers. Like Caligula and Nero before him, Commodus was an ordinary ruler (by imperial standards) who succeeded his father, Marcus Aurelius, upon the latter's death. In one major positive deed, Commodus called off the expedition against the Germans that his father had initiated, securing favorable terms for Rome. He then hastened back to Rome, where he much preferred enjoying the perks of being an emperor to the gritty business of waging wars. While he whiled away his time pursuing a hedonistic lifestyle, he happily delegated administrative responsibilities to others.
Unfortunately, his appointees never seemed to last long on the job. Whether through incompetence, bad luck, or corruption, one by one, they fell and needed replacement. Commodus, little by little, began gaining a taste for power as the shuffling of his formal appointments took place. Finally, he decided to run the empire himself. It was during this period that Commodus began to act increasingly unpredictably and cruelly. A botched conspiracy against him, orchestrated by none other than his beloved sister Lucilla, was discovered, and surviving the episode turned him into a highly paranoid individual. Afterward, he had countless officials executed for disloyalty, whether imagined or real.
In his final year of life, he shocked Romans of all classes by personally moonlighting as a gladiator. Of course, these fights were arranged to ensure his inevitable victory. Due to this, a record-breaking 700+ victories were scored in his name, each one culminating in the deaths of one or more gladiators and/or wild beasts at the Colosseum. A successful conspiracy against him was finally hatched by one of his lovers, who initially attempted poisoning him. However, he vomited, and a wrestler was summoned to strangle him to death on the last day of the year 192.
The Hollywood film "The Gladiator," presents a fictionalized portrayal of Commodus as emperor, depicting him in conflict with a renowned gladiator.
Notes
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