|
177-192 AD - COMMODUS AR denarius - struck 183-184 AD
|
obv: M.COMMODVS ANTONINVS AVG PIVS (laureate head right)
rev: TRP VIIII IMP VI COS IIII PP (Felicitas standing left holding caduceus & cornucopiae, modius at foot left)
ref: RIC III 74, RSC 445
3.01gms, 16mm
Commodus was inaugurated in 183 as consul (IV) with Aufidius Victorinus for a colleague and assumed the title 'Pius'. The adoption of the title Pius by Commodus looks like a direct appeal to the memory of the beloved Antoninus.
Felicity's image occurs on almost all the imperial series coins; because the senate professed to wish that all princes should consider it their duty to promote public happiness, and also because those princes themselves were peculiarly desirous of having it regarded as a blessing attached to their own reign.
|
|