Worst Hercules Ever!

History has seen many try to invest themselves with the attributes of the ultimate demigod-hero, Hercules, amongst them Alexander the Great and the Roman emperors Trajan and Maximianus. More recently, the likes of The Rock, Kellan Lutz, ̶K̶h̶a̶l̶ ̶D̶r̶o̶g̶o̶ ̶A̶q̶u̶a̶m̶a̶n̶ Jason Momoa and even the immortal Kevin Sorbo have all failed to adequately occupy the legendary lion-skin and loinskin.

By far the worst Hercules impersonator in history, however, has to be Commodus, Marcus Aurelius's goofy, demented son. I suppose, at the same time, he could also be considered the best, because he actually thought he WAS Hercules. Commodus adopted the name Hercules, had numerous statues of himself dressed as the demigod displayed publicly, and even performed in the gladiatorial arena wearing a lionskin and wielding a club.

Commodus also struck a series of coins with his portrait wearing a lionskin headdress à la Hercules, and I've always considered these to be the quintessential Commodus coins. I've spent a few years looking for a decent example which wouldn't break the bank, and finally scored this As with the Club of Hercules reverse. It's a little rough (as many of these are), but to my eyes it's still a beauty and checks my box for the type satisfyingly.

Please share 'em if you've got 'em!


COMMODUS
AE As. 10.7g, 24.5mm. Rome mint, AD 192. RIC 644; Cohen 193. O: L AEL AVREL COMM AVG P FEL, head of Commodus as Hercules right, wearing lion skin. R: HER-CVL/RO-MAN/AV-GV/S-C in four lines flanking club; all within laurel wreath.
Ex Dr. Walter Neussel Collection (acquired from Peus, 1958)

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Great job @zumbly ! That ius a great Hercules AE As. Yeah, agreed, he was an odd duck!

I have a denarius with Hercules and Africa together


RI Commodus 177-192 CE AR Denarius laureate hd and Hercules and Africa

 

Nice type! That's not one you see every day.

 

Very cool op coin!

Woe to the gladiator chosen to fight Commodus in the arena! You would be given a sword, but its blade would be made from lead.

:-(

 

Max. Herc. also liked to be depicted as Hercules. He wore the lion skin over his shoulder and held the club over the other.

My awful example:-

 

Here is my coin of a youthful Emperor Hercules

 

Great Hercules 'Z'
Can I have a shoot with that one ?


Republic, Didrachm
Rome mint c. 269-266 BC
No legend, Diademed head of young Hercules right, with club and lion's skin over shoulder
ROMANO, She wolf right, suckling Romulus and Remus
7.29 gr
Ref : RCV # 24, RSC # 8

Q

 

Nice coin @zumbly, I have yet to get a Hercules type but I've got my eye open.

 

Nice score Z!! Lots of detail left on yours. Mine is a bit rough. These are usually pricey in higher grades.

 

Nice coins, folks, and thanks for all the comments!

 

I am glad some of us have the patience to wait for a coin. I should learn from you. Great coin.
I have a few RR quadrans with Herc -

one cast and two struck

this one is a bit ruffer and had a club below

 

A great find!

 

A Commodus depicted as Hercules has been on my list for awhile now. Havent seen a good one yet but I like what Im seeing here.

Here is my Commodus denarius and then my Gordian III pentassarion (i love saying pentassarion) with a Hercules reverse:

 

Awesome! Another neat thing about the type is that it was struck shortly before his assassination in 192. I got this one from NFA a long time ago:



Since then it has been my only Commodus (though now I'm wanting one as Caesar like @Sallent's very nice denarius).

I always wonder how much the "bad" emperors have been unfairly maligned by history. In this connection, I found a page that Warren linked a few days ago quite interesting. In the Trajan Decius DIVI series, the types are of varying rarities, and the rarity seems to track the number of dies & thus the number of coins originally produced:



If we surmise that the number of coins produced reflects the general popularity of that emperor in the 250s, it's interesting to note where Commodus falls. More popular than both Marcus Aurelius and Septimius Severus? Surprising to us! (Sadly, that doesn't mean he didn't do all that crazy stuff, as we can appreciate only too well in current times. Perhaps he was popular because of all that crazy stuff. )

 

There is another Commodus reverse which adds a bow and quivver to the club. Mine is a denarius but I believe they come in all metals. I bought this in 1999 from someone you know from CT.


My as is the club only style shown before. It came a decade earlier from a dealer no longer with us.


I have seen relatively few Hercules/Herakles Provincials. Does this Commodus 2 assaria of Dionysopolis uses a reversed B for the denomination and the bow?

 

I do have another Hercules on a Commodus sestertius, but on the reverse, while most of you have shown examples where the obverse is related to the semi-god


Commodus, Sestertius Minted in Rome, AD 192
L AEL AVREL CO---MM AVG P FEL, Laureate head of Commodus right
HERCVLI ROMANO AVG, Hercules facing, head left, holding club and lion's skin, resting on trophy. SC in field
21,01 gr
Ref : RCV #5752, Cohen #203, BMC # 314. RIC # 640.

Q

 

Nice coin!

I was just looking at that page on the Divi series a few days. The people and the army probably quite loved Commodus for the exact reasons why he was so hated by the Senate and upper classes. His inclusion in the series seems less odd when we consider that his image was rehabilitated to some extent when Septimius Severus had him deified him. I'm not sure how to exactly take in the comparative 'popularity' of his Divi coins, but if I was in charge of the mint producing a collectible series like this one and Commodus was on the list, I'd certainly produce more of his coins!

 

I understand how Commodus got in even though his Consecratio coins are very rare. I don't have one but CNG has sold a few from the Alexandria mint all using the standard obverse not one reading Divus.
https://www.cngcoins.com/Search.asp...1&SEARCH_IN_CONTAINER_TYPE_ID_4=1&VIEW_TYPE=0
I fail to understand why Caracalla was omitted.
https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=324996

 

The points above are well taken. But why would Commodus have been more popular than his father? (Usually the only black mark held against the big MA is that he allowed Commodus to inherit!)

 

I'll bet a lot of emperors had a Hercules complex.

Thrace, Bizya. Marcus Aurelius AE25. Marcus Aurelius, AE25 of Bizya, Thrace.
Obv: M AVRHLIOCOV HROC KAICAP, bare head right.
Rev: BIZY HNWN, Herakles standing facing, head r. holding club on ground and lionskin.