Sale: CNG 72, Lot: 1560. Estimate $500.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 14 June 2006.  Sold For $1200. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Commodus. AD 177-192. AR Denarius (2.96 g, 12h). Struck AD 192. Head in lion skin right / Bow, club, and quiver with arrows. RIC III 253; MIR 18, 857-4/72; RSC 195. EF, minor porosity.

From the Douglas O. Rosenberg Collection.

Over the later part of Commodus' reign, numerous events suggest the emperor was becoming mentally ill. Ancient historians often present a skewed view of unpopular emperors, embellishing and creating from whole cloth events that tend to emphasize such an emperor's notoriety. A number of our sources tell us that Commodus thought of himself as the reincarnation of Hercules. It is said that in public spectacles he would dress in the manner of Hercules and bludgeon prisoners to death with a club. Such stories would be reminiscent of the public escapades of the hated Nero, and thus could have been interpreted by later historians as mere negative propaganda created by the contemporary writers. Thankfully, though, the evidence of coins such as the present example serve as irrefutable proof this particular story was at least based in fact.