The Last of the Antonines:
The Sole Reign of Commodus

    When Marcus Aurelius died on the 17 March 180 at the age of 58, leading his legions against an invasion over the frontiers, for the first time since Domitian succeeded his father and brother in 81 A.D. the throne was left not to a carefully chosen mature nominee, but to his own son.  At the still tender of 18, Commodus, the son of Aurelius and Faustina II, became sole ruler of the known world with all its overwhelming demands, opportunities, corruptions, temptations, and crushing pressures.  It was a role that he was incapable of fulfilling; carelessness and caprice turned to cruelty and megalomania, and his reign ended in murder as Rome slipped into yet another civil war.

    The reign of Commodus is as erratic numismatically as it was politically, with rapid changes of titulature and legend styles on the coins resulting in the standard catalogues abounding with misread or misplaced specimens.  Thankfully we still have the guidance of Wolfgang Szeivert who has charted a path through the tangle of issues, and whose lead I have been grateful to follow.

    The foundation of this catalogue is the collection of the British Museum and its publication in the BMCRE.  Usually, if a coin type is recorded in BMCRE then I have not recorded other examples.  However, if a particular coin is excessively rare, and the indication of additional noteworthy examples is of value, then I have added references to them.  Otherwise, I have tried to include references to at least two examples for each coin type.  References to museum specimens have been abbreviated (see table below), but citations of auctions sales have been made in the fullest possible form to assist in tracing the antecedents of specimens.

    Lists and catalogues such as this can only ever be provisional; every new excavation, chance find, or auction sale can reveal new types, confirm doubtful specimens, and prove or disprove scholarly conjectures.  Once again I hope that collectors and students of numismatics will find this catalogue helpful, and that they will continue to be forthcoming with both additions and corrections.