284, Lot: 354. Estimate $100. Sold for $85. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Commodus. AD 177-192. AR Denarius (17mm, 2.62 g, 12h). Rome mint. Struck AD 192. Head right, wearing lion’s skin headress / Bow, club, and quiver with arrows. RIC III 253; RSC 195. Near VF, lightly toned, minor porosity, small edge splits.

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.