Commodus Bronze Sestertius, RIC III Commodus 560

Monetary Context and Denominational System

During the late Antonine period, the Roman monetary system rested upon the trimetallic structure consolidated under Augustus, in which the brass sestertius functioned as the principal large-module base-metal coin. Valued at four asses, two dupondii, or one quarter of a silver denarius, the sestertius was both an indispensable unit of everyday high-value retail commerce and the traditional unit of public accounting across the Roman Empire. By AD 190, the physical and metallurgical standards of Roman base-metal coinage had experienced subtle shifts compared to the early principate. Although traditionally manufactured from orichalcum, a golden-toned alloy of copper and zinc, late second-century issues frequently incorporated higher proportions of scrap bronze, lead, and tin, producing darker flans with irregular alloy compositions. Despite these underlying metallic adjustments, the sestertius retained enormous prestige and visibility. Its expansive flan, averaging roughly twenty-five to thirty grams in weight and over thirty millimeters in diameter, provided an unparalleled visual platform for state communication. Commodus actively exploited this platform during the final years of his reign to broadcast personal religious transformations and monarchical declarations to the populace of the capital and the wider western provinces.

Production and Mint Organization

The entire production of regular imperial bronze coinage bearing Commodus's name and official imperial titulature was centralized at the primary imperial mint in Rome. Operating under the administrative oversight of imperial freedmen and staffed by hereditary guilds of monetarii, the Rome mint executed extensive issues across all recognized denominations. The production of sestertii required monumental physical effort, involving the casting of heavy, heated circular flans followed by two-die striking under heavy hammers. The dies for RIC III Commodus 560 were cut by skilled master engravers capable of rendering high-relief portraits on the obverse and intricate narrative scenes on the reverse. Surviving specimens show careful die alignment and disciplined die-cutting characteristic of late Antonine workshop practice, though die wear, double striking, and slight centering offsets are common due to the sheer mechanical force needed to imprint large brass planchets. The administrative authority behind this issue followed traditional protocol by including the letters S C on the reverse, signifying Senatus Consulto, by decree of the Senate. While real political power was concentrated within the imperial palace, the senatorial formula remained a mandatory institutional convention on Roman civic bronze coinage.

Obverse Iconography and Imperial Image

The obverse of RIC III Commodus 560 depicts the laureate head of Commodus facing right. By AD 190, the portraiture of Commodus had evolved away from the youthful, philosophical idealization modeled on his father, Marcus Aurelius, into a distinctively mature and stylized representation. The emperor is rendered with thick, intricately curled locks of hair arranged in stepped tiers framing his brow, matched by a full, curly beard that extends across the jawline and chin. The laurel wreath rests securely upon his head, bound at the nape with dangling ribbon ties that drape toward the neck. The modeling of the facial features exhibits strong plastic depth, emphasizing heavy eyelids, a prominent nose, and an imposing countenance. Engravers at the Rome mint captured Commodus at the height of his sole rule, projecting an aura of divine majesty and physical vigor. The portrait is enclosed by a crisp, continuous border of fine dots that encircles the field immediately outside the letter terminals of the surrounding imperial legend.

Reverse Iconography and the Colonial Foundation

The reverse iconography presents a literal depiction of the ritual founding of a Roman colony, applied here directly to the refounding of Rome itself. Commodus appears in the role of the colonial founder, positioned toward the left of the scene and advancing rightward behind a team of two yoked oxen. The emperor is depicted togate and veiled with the cinctus Gabinus, a traditional priestly arrangement where the folds of the toga are drawn over the head and bound tightly around the waist, leaving the arms free for ritual actions. In his hands, the emperor guides the stilt of an ancient plough, cutting the inaugural furrow known as the sulcus primigenius. The two oxen, harnessed abreast, march solemnly to the right with heads held forward, their forms rendered in profile. This ritual act historically reenacted the legendary actions of Romulus founding Rome upon the Palatine Hill. In the context of AD 190, the scene commemorated Commodus renaming Rome as Colonia Lucia Annia Commodiana following devastating fires and social unrest in the city. The monumental composition is anchored in the exergue and lower fields by the senatorial initials S C, reinforcing the institutional framing of this audacious symbolic act.

Epigraphy and Titulature Analysis

The inscriptions on RIC III Commodus 560 provide vital historical, religious, and chronological data. The obverse legend reads M COMMOD ANT P FELIX AVG BRIT P P, an abbreviation for Marcus Commodus Antoninus Pius Felix Augustus Britannicus Pater Patriae. The inclusion of Felix, adopted officially around AD 185, marked Commodus as exceptionally blessed by divine fortune, while Britannicus celebrated military campaigns in Britain concluded early in his reign. The reverse inscription is exceptionally detailed, reading COL L AN COM P M TR P XV IMP VIII COS VI S C. The opening sequence, COL L AN COM, abbreviates Colonia Lucia Annia Commodiana, asserting the emperor's renaming of Rome using his personal names Lucius and Annia, alongside his cognomen Commodus. The succeeding elements list his constitutional offices: Pontifex Maximus (chief priest), Tribunicia Potestate XV (holding tribunician power for the fifteenth time), Imperator VIII (acclaimed imperator eight times), and Consul VI (serving his sixth regular consulship). The presence of TR P XV securely establishes the date of emission, while the letters S C confirm senatorial ratification.

Typology and Chronological Placement

RIC III Commodus 560 belongs to an intensely ideological series of issues produced at Rome in late AD 190, coinciding strictly with Commodus's fifteenth renewal of tribunician power. The imperial tribunician year ran from December AD 189 to December AD 190. Following a severe famine, popular riots, the execution of the praetorian prefect Cleander, and widespread urban conflagrations in Rome during AD 189 and 190, Commodus sought to enact an absolute rebirth of the capital under his personal protection. He re-consecrated the city as Colonia Commodiana, simultaneously declaring that the senate, the Roman legions, and even the calendar months should bear names honoring him. While gold aurei and silver denarii of AD 190 also featured variants of the colonial ploughing scene or related commemorative legends, RIC III Commodus 560 represents the premier base-metal manifestation of this programmatic campaign. Typologically, it is catalogued alongside related bronze denominations such as dupondii and asses that share the colonial legend, yet the large flan of the sestertius made it the foremost circulating carrier of this imperial declaration.

Circulation, Hoard Contexts, and Survival

Upon release from the Rome mint, sestertii of RIC III Commodus 560 entered the general monetary stream throughout Italy and the western provinces, where base-metal coinage from the capital regularly circulated for decades. The dramatic refounding of Rome as Colonia Commodiana proved exceptionally short-lived; following the assassination of Commodus on the final night of AD 192, the Senate immediately pronounced damnatio memoriae against him, stripping his monuments of their inscriptions and officially restoring Rome's historic name. However, practical economic reality prevented any systematic recall of bronze sestertii. Given the chronic currency requirements of the empire, specimens of RIC III Commodus 560 remained in active circulation alongside earlier Antonine and later Severan issues. Archaeological hoard evidence from Gaul, Britain, and the Danubian frontiers demonstrates that late second-century sestertii continued to change hands well into the third century AD, frequently circulating until countermarked or worn smooth by decades of commercial handling.

References

1. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, Volume IV: Antoninus Pius to Commodus. p. 835
2. Coinage in the Roman Economy, 300 B.C. to A.D. 700. pp. 85-98
3. The Cult of Commodus and the Refounding of Rome. pp. 115-132
4. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC III Commodus 560. ric.3.com.560
5. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Volume III: Antoninus Pius to Commodus. p. 436, no. 560