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Ancient Coin of the Day: Just got Hercules on my mind today, so the thread is going to look at the connection which Commodus forged with Hercules, starting with this aureus of AD 190. #ACOTD #Commodus #Hercules
Image: RIC III Commodus 221d. Link - numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.3.…
Image: RIC III Commodus 221d. Link - numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.3.…
The connection between the Emperor and the gods was one that had a long history, with Augustus being worshipped at Narbonne alongside the goddess Roma, but few emperors went as far as Commodus in explicitly associating themselves with a particular deity.
Dio (73.15.6) tells us that during Commodus' reign "vast numbers of statues were erected representing him in the garb of Hercules. And it was voted that his age should be named the 'Golden Age', and that this should be recorded in all the records without exception."
Ancient Coin of the Day: A stunning aureus of Commodus from AD 192, with the Obverse showing the emperor himself in the lion-skin of Hercules. #ACOTD #Commodus
Image: RIC III Commodus 247
Image: RIC III Commodus 247
Commodus had made a conscious association between himself and Hercules and, in the final year of his reign - AD 192 - adopted the title Invictus Romanus Hercules, representing himself as an incarnation of Hercules.
The Reverse of this coin continues this association, with the Legend HER ROM COND - 'Hercules (Re)Founds Rome' - alluding to Commodus' re-founding of the city of Rome, dubbing it Commodiana (Dio 73.15). The scene here is likely the representation of the ploughing of the pomerium.
