Cyzicus was one of the wealthiest and most productive civic minting centers in the Roman province of Asia, and its bronze issues under Commodus reflect the city's continued autonomy in local coinage during a reign increasingly defined by the emperor's erratic self-deification. By the early 180s, Commodus had begun styling himself the new Hercules — a posture that eventually alienated the Senate so thoroughly that his memory was formally condemned after his assassination in 192.
Provincial bronzes of this size from Cyzicus are frequently encountered with uneven flans, a known characteristic of the city's workshop practices in this period.
Cyzicus was one of the wealthiest and most productive civic minting centers in the Roman province of Asia, and its bronze issues under Commodus reflect the city's continued autonomy in local coinage during a reign increasingly defined by the emperor's erratic self-deification. By the early 180s, Commodus had begun styling himself the new Hercules — a posture that eventually alienated the Senate so thoroughly that his memory was formally condemned after his assassination in 192.
Provincial bronzes of this size from Cyzicus are frequently encountered with uneven flans, a known characteristic of the city's workshop practices in this period.