Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
Æ34 - Commodus ϹΤΡΑΤ ΗΡΑΚΛΕΙΔΟΥ ϹΜΥΡ ΛΑΚΕΔΑΙ ΟΜΟ
| Issuer | Smyrna (Conventus of Smyrna) |
|---|---|
| Year | 184-190 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Laureate bust of Commodus with long beard, draped in paludamentum and cuirass, depicted facing right and viewed from the rear in a distinctive three-quarter perspective. The imperial effigy is rendered in the provincial Greek style characteristic of the Smyrnaean mint during the later Antonine period. The obverse legend encircles the bust in Greek script, identifying the emperor by his Aurelius epithet. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Greek |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Smyrna held the rare distinction of being named neokoros — temple warden of the imperial cult — three times over, a status it competed for aggressively against rival cities like Ephesus and Pergamon throughout the second century. The magistrate name preserved in the legend, Herakleides, anchors this piece within a known sequence of civic bronzes issued under Commodus, whose identification with Hercules became increasingly official after roughly 185 AD — the emperor eventually demanding to be addressed as the god incarnate.