commodus
Snagged this decent Roman coin of Emperor Commodus 180-192AD. It is special because Commodus the gladiator was the only Emperor to actually perform as a gladiator . This coin is dated 192 AD the only year he practiced as a gladiator winning over 700 bouts and also the year he was murdered. Commodus is symbolic of many of the despicable Emperors who contributed to the decay of the Empire. Also obtained this print from a 1930's magazine from England. The artist was a well known American, Blashfield. Commodus is holding the winged figure of Victoria in his right hand and the palm leaf in left to both symbolize his triumph and victory.
This has some special meaning to me. Kathy and I had toured the Roman Coliseum and the ruins of Pompei. We stood next to it's amphitheater; the largest surviving and the premier training center where gladiators engaged in mortal combat. Austrian gladiator school video.
This guy was one of the wackiest Emperors in many ways. For instance, he changed his name in year 192 to Lucius Aelius Aurelius Commodus Augustus Herculeus Romanus Exsuperatorius Amazonius Invictus Felix Pius. Abbreviations of that name make up the inscription only found on the face of my coin: L AEL AVREL COMM AVG P FEL. He renamed the calendar months to his names for the entire Empire. He changed the name of Rome after himself as Commodiana. The word megalomaniac applies here.
Commodus was guilty of many murderous and despicable acts. He killed many men and over 100 bears (or lions) in one day as well as elephants, gazelles and other wild beasts. Among his over 300 concubines was Marcia, who ended up poisoning him then had him strangled at his villa. This was the Villa built by the Quintilli brothers that he liked so much that he killed them so he could have it. His sister had plotted to murder him and was thus exiled to Capri where he had her murdered. had over 300 concubines.
The director of the "Gladiator" movie said this painting was the inspiration for creating the movie. Although gory it's a well done (Academy Award Winner) piece that brings to life many unbelievable brutal historical facts.
Joaquin Phoenix played the part of Commodus. These excessively blood lusty Roman games could go on for a hundred days. Remnants of these kinds of brutal acts still exist today's world. The reverse side of my coin has the winged goddess Victoria holding a laurel wreath and palm leaf symbolizing victory in sport or war.
It took me a week to identify the coin that had been mislabeled by the eBay seller, a very congenial Tennessee guy named Mark Norton. His and my "experts" were not able to determine the exact identity. Mark turned out to be the archeologist who investigated these Indian Pinson Mounds. I like that my artifact is more attractive than his Mayan pipe of the same time period.
Using the Forum Ancient Coins guide procedure I narrowed it down from thousands of permutations to one specification:
Commodus Augustus 177-192
Busts:
7) Laureate head right
Obverses:
13) L AEL AVREL COMM AVG P FEL
Reverses:
175) PM TR P XVII IMP VIII COS VII PP
Types:
167) Victory advancing left, holding wreath and palm.
Mint: 1) Roma
AR silver Denarius 43) B07, O13, R175, T167 * in left field =
RIC III 237, Roman Imperial Coins 3rd Ed pub. 1930, Cohen 568
search fro RIC 237 yields confirmation reference coin at Beast Coins
Some Roman Coins are not identified in reference books. Some are catalogued in the UK Antiquities Scheme data base that contains over half a million artifacts .
Like the Fall of the Roman Empire with their overextended military fighting foreign wars and straining the home economy, I'm just wondering if our American Empire will last as long.., I'm just sayin, should we hope for a change...
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