New Commodus Sestertius - CONC MIL -The Fall of Perennis

The great event of the year 185 was the discovery of the treachery of Tigidius Perennis, prefect of the Pretorian Guard, and his execution.

The portrait of Commodus here still shows the massive Antonine haircut that had also characterised the reign of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus. His fluffy blond curls, which Commodus famously made lustrous by the use of golden dust, would shortly thereafter be eradicated in favour of a very short cut from 190 onwards, a style that was common amongst athletes and, there you have it, gladiators, that would foreshadow the military-based third century imperial portraits. Even in this view, Commodus rule would mark the end of a golden age.

The ancient scratch on the obverse obviously does not result from wear, a flan crack, digging or cleaning, so it might have been scratched there intentionally. If so, as it neatly „cuts off the head“, it is tempting to interpret this as a form of damnaio memoriae (if so, it could most probably dated to the early months of 193 aD), although a cut across the face would have seemed to be more appropriate.



M COMMODVS ANT P FELIX AVG BRIT – Laureate bust of Commodus right /
P M TR P XI IMP VII [COS V P P], Concordia standing frontal, head left, holding legionary eagle standard, vertical, in each hand; S-C, left and right, in field, CONC MIL in exergue
Sestertius, Rome 196 a.D.
29,5 mm / 20,20g
RIC 465 (a); Cohen 57 corr (COS IIII); BMCRE 576 (plate 106, Nr.8); Banti 27 (one specimen = the one in the BM), Sear 5738



Although I bought this coin solely for it´s neat portrait and clean unpatinated surfaces, it is the the reverse type and the legends (though partly off the flan) that neatly tell the story of the first half of Commodus´reign and make it easy to date his coinage.

The AVG of course marks his acession to co-Emperor of his father Marcus Aurelius in early June 177 AD, which led to his sole rulership from March 17, 180, the death of his father. This would be the one ond only sucession from father to son in the whole of the 2nd century.

In the beginning, Commodus´ might have appeared as just another „good“ Antonine Emperor of the 2nd century. The administration of government was handled by Sextus Tigidius Perennis, prefect of the Imperial bodyguard and a trusted veteran of Marcus Aurelius. These were peaceful times for the Roman Empire, as the young Emperor had decided to end his father´s everlasting struggle with the Germanic tribes on the northern borders and spend time in the capital instead to be close to his subjects and live out his hedonistic personality.

It was in December 182 AD that Commodus added „PIVS“ to his titulature in (shortened to „P“ on this coin), either to highlight his peace with the Germans as an attempt to connect himself closer to the peaceful reign Antoninus Pius and distance himself from the war-waging Marcus Aurelius, or to emphasize the „Impietas“ of those connected to his sister Lucilla´s conspiracy earlier that year, or maybe even for both reasons.

In 183 AD, therefore only after adopting the name Pius, Commodus started to mention his position as Pontifex Maximus (which is found on inscriptions since 177) on his coinage (as attested by the „P M“ in this coin´s reverse legend), which would imply that the name „Pius“ was of some religious importance to him.

In mid 184 AD, the most serious war of Commodus reign, a massive uprising of various tribes in Britain who had breached Hadrian´s wall in 180, had come to an end though the military activities of Ulpius Marcellus, who even tried to re-advance the Roman frontier northwards to the Antonine Wall. After the victory Commodus obtained his seventh Imperatorial acclamation and the name Britannicus, both of which are attested on this coins reverse („IMP VII“) and obverse („BRIT“) respectively.

Yet unrest started to spread in the British legions, either due to the overly harsh treatment of the soldiers by Marcellus, or the refusal of donatives after their victory. The angry soldiers tried to hail an officer named Priscus as Emperor, but he wisely refused. According to Cassius Dio, they next selected 1500 javelin men to march on Rome to demand the dismissal of the almighty pretorian prefect, whom they held responsible for everything that went wrong, which may have been simpy the replacement of senatorial legates by equites to restore disciplin.
If we believe Dio, they made it to the vicinity of the capital and were even met by the Emperor himself. Whether the soldiers falsely accused Perennis of plotting against Commodus (as Dio puts it), or Perennis was really aiming for the principate and conspired against Commodus to put one of his own sons on the throne (as Herodian tells us), we will never know. Maybe it was Commodus himself who, in order to save his regime, blamed and sacrificed the prefect for a measure that proved so unpopular, or the whole coup was orchestrated by Marcus Aurelius Cleander, a former slave who enjoyed the Emperor´s full confidence and had risen to the position of the Imperial chamberlain, who managed to persue Commodus to have Perennis executed in order to concentrate power in his own hands. In any case the prefect was swiftly put to death along with his sons.
After the downfall of Perennis, which seems to have taken place in April or May 185 AD, Commodus added „FELIX“ to his titulature in order to celebrate his divine protection during the „plot“ of Perennis.
The combination of Pius and Felix which Commodus started with this very emission would become part of the imperial titulature of all roman emperors from Caracalla onwards.

Seeking support from the army after having just sacrificed his pretorian prefect to Cleander, Commodus in late 185 aD introduced a new reverse type.
It proclaims the Concordia („CONC MIL“ in exergue on the reverse of this coin) that must reign between the soldiers (or Commodus himself as reconciling two groups of soldiers to one another) as the most faithful support of the emperor and features the female personification of Concordia/Fides holding a standard in each hand.
The first emission of the type featured the obverse legend M. COMMODVS ANTON AVG PIVS BRIT and the reverse COS IIII, as Commodus had still only had been Consul four times at that point.
The corresponding Sestertius M COMMODVS ANTON AVG PIVS BRIT / CONC MIL P M TR P XI IMP VII COS IIII P P S C (RIC 459c, BMCRE 802, Cohen 54, ERIC 695) was only struck in December 185 AD and is therefore very scarce today (not in Sear or Wildwinds, none listed in OCRE), with one in Paris (Cohen 58), one listed by Banti (A. Helbig 1926), and only one found on AC Search (Münzen &Medaillen AG 2004).

On 1 January 186 Commodus took the office of Consul for the fifth time, probably also on the occasion of Perennis´downfall. The CONC MIL type was accordingly adapted with the reverse legend now ending in COS V (sadly off the flan on my coin) resulting in the Sestertius type RIC 465 which was struck in the first issue of 186 AD only.

For whatever odd reason, the obverse legend was struck in three different sequences resulting in three subtypes:
- M COMMODVS ANT P FELIX AVG BRIT = RIC 465 (a); Cohen 57 corr.; Banti 27
- M COMMODVS ANT AVG P BRIT FELIX = RIC 465 (c); Cohen 56 corr.; Banti 26
- M COMMODUS ANT FELIX AVG P BRIT = RIC 465 (d), Cohen 55 corr.; Banti -;
Cohen gets it wrong by listing all as COS IIII which does not exist with FELIX.

Of these three varieties, RIC 465 (c) is extremely rare (only Banti lists one specimen, Naville II, 1922, ex Vautier Collection) and RIC 465 (d) even more obscure (all refering to Cohen but no extant specimen published anywhere), while RIC 465 (a) is the main type, the only one listed by Sear (Nr. 5738), and the only one present in the British Museum. RIC goes so far as to describing it as „common“, but that can hardly be the case as it too is absent in OCRE, Wildwinds, or CNG archives (only the corresponding Denarius type, RIC 126, C 53, ERIC 317, can be called common with 13 specimens listed in OCRE alone, while Aurei with CONC MIL are of extreme rarity).

The CONC MIL type was discontinued altogether during the same year as there are no specimens known from the second issue of 186 AD which features IMP VIII instead of VII.

This coin came more costly than expected - I ended up paying more than four times the price that it had fetched at auction just one year ago. Someone else must have really wanted it. Maybe he too had found that this, despite it´s short flan and scratch on the obverse, looks like the finest of the five published specimens of this type.

This is the first time I bought something from Roma Numismatics and I was very happy to receive it in a neat presentation box today:



Please share your thoughts and post your coins of Commodus!

 

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Despite the scratch, it is still a stunning coin with a fantastic portrait.

Here is my only Commodus...

 

I like the youthful portrait, Sallent! That's a nice coin.

 

This 'Marcus praenomen' sestertius shows Commodus shaking hands with the Senate. PIETATI SENATVS

My 'Lucius praenomen' sestertius of Commodus (Pietas with child reverse) appealed to me due to the contrasting colors but looking closely you can see directional scratches in the light parts which was explained to me as a sign of the coin being 'brick cleaned' by rubbing the dark coin on a brick until the legends are easy to read.

 

That is one well-researched coin, @Julius Germanicus ! Nice write-up!

Here's one that doesn't have nearly as interesting a reverse type, but its bust type is very scarce for the issue.



Commodus, AD 177-192.
Roman orichalcum sestertius, 22.51 g, 29.2 mm, 1 h.
Rome, AD 192.
Obv: L AEL AVREL COMM AVG P FEL, laureate bust of Commodus, right, with slight drapery on left shoulder.
Rev: LIB AVG P M TR P XVII COS VII P P, Libertas standing facing, head left, holding pileus in right hand and vindicta in left hand; S C l. and r., low in field; star, mid right, in field.
Refs: RIC 619b; BMCRE 692 var. (bust); Cohen 290; Sear 5764; ERIC II 573 var. (bust).

 

That is a very nice, new sestertius! And agree, that the write up was superb as a companion to your coin.

I don't have a similar sestertius, but if I combine this similar-ish obverse denarius...

Commodus, Ruled 177-192 AD
AR Denarius, Struck 190 AD, Rome Mint
Obverse: M COMM ANT P FEL AVG BRIT P P, Head of Commodus, laureate, right.
Reverse: APOL MONET P M TR P XV COS VI, Apollo, standing front, head right, holding plectrum in right hand and lyre resting on column in left hand, COS-VI across fields.
References: RIC III 205

...with this younger, worn, nicely tawny sestertius...

Commodus, Ruled 177-192 AD
AE Sestertius, Struck 179-180 AD, Rome Mint
Obverse: L AVREL COMMODVS AVG TR P V, Bust of Commodus, laureate, cuirassed, right.
Reverse: IOVI VICTORI IMP III COS II P P, Jupiter, half draped, seated left, holding Victory in extended right hand and sceptre in left hand, S-C across field.
References: RIC III 291f, Cohen 264, BMC 1720
Size: 31mm, 27g

... I get close. Lol

 

Julius Germanicus, Nice score ! I like the 2nd photo better with the subdued lighting, & I like their new presentation boxes . I've only got one coin of Commodus posted below. Hopefully CT members can give me a positive ID on the coin; I haven't seen it listed anywhere. It has an excellent portrait for a tiny denarius & the reverse looks like Fortuna or Felicitas holding a caduceus & cornucopia with something at her feet. I can vaguely see PON MAX -- TRP XIIII COS VII ---- .

 

Great coin and great write-up, JG - I am keeping this post in my Commodus info file for future reference. Please keep 'em coming.

I am really attracted to the coins of Commodus - so many reverse types and titles. Your lovely example put me in mind of a Concordia denarius that I think was issued soon after yours - it has the unusual CONCORDIAE COMMODI legend. Perhaps another reference to attempted coups/assassinations? Commodus was getting crazier and crazier, but his paranoia was pretty reasonable since a lot of people wanted to rub him out:



Commodus Denarius
(c. 189 A.D.)
Rome Mint
M COMM ANT P FEL AVG BRIT P P, laureate head right / CONCORDIAE COMMODI
AVG, Concordia standing left, holding patera & scepter.
RIC 198a; Cohen 43; RSC 43.
(3.09 grams / 17 mm)

Although not a Concordia type, I recently got this sestertius featuring Nobilitas - from what I can figure out, this is the first time Nobilitas appeared on an Imperial coin - perhaps as a reinforcement/replacement for the Concordia types? It was only issued a year or so after the OP.



Commodus Æ Sestertius
(186-187 A.D.)
Rome Mint
M COMMODVS ANT P FELIX [AVG BRIT], laureate head right / [NOB]ILITAS AVG [P M TR P (XI or XII) IMP VIII COS V PP] Nobilitas standing right holding sceptre & palladium, SC across.
RIC 501 (XII) or 485 (XI).
(19.22 grams / 28 mm)

 

This one?

FOR FEL P M TR P XIIII COS V DES VI
http://numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.3.com.186
(Obv die match?)

 

Thanks Justin, great detective work ! The sample you posted is a beautiful strike, & the obverse certainly looks like a possible die match.

 

Thanks everybody!

My camera broke and I still didn´t d manage to figure out how to make decent coin fotos with my cell phone. Has three cameras but none of them seems to be capable of taking sharp pictures in subdued light .

The coin is actually light brown but looks blue in my newest efforts...