Lot 4330

Description

Commodus, (177-192 A.D.), AE sestertius, 28-29mm, (21.78 g), issued 185, obv. M COMMODVS AN TON AVG PIVS BRIT, laureate head of Commodus to right, rev. P M TR P X IMP VII COS IIII P P, across S C, VICT BRIT (in exergue), Victory, winged, naked to waist, seated right on shields and arms, with stylus in right hand preparing to inscribe oval shield set on left knee. (S.5826, BMCRE IV p.800, 560, C.946, RIC III p.418, 452, cf.MIR 665). Good very fine, with a light brown patination, type is very rare.

Ex A.K. Collection.

The title suggests that Commodus was present at his father's victory over the Marcomanni, he mopped up the deserters in Gaul in a military campaign, and a revolt in Brittany was put down by two legions brought over from Britain. In Britain in 184, the governor Ulpius Marcellus re-advanced the Roman frontier northward to the Antonine Wall, but the legionaries revolted against his harsh discipline and acclaimed another legate, Priscus, as emperor. But Priscus refused to accept their acclamations, but Perennis had all the legionary legates in Britain cashiered. On 15 October 184 at the Capitoline Games, a Cynic philosopher publicly denounced Perennis before Commodus, who was watching, but was immediately put to death. According to Dio Cassius, Perennis, though ruthless and ambitious, was not personally corrupt and generally administered the state well. This coin commemorates (VICT BRIT) the success of the legions advancing to the Antonine wall.