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Lot Essay
Lucius Aelius Aurelius, born in A.D. 161, was the son of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius. Upon becoming Emperor at the age of 18 in A.D. 180, he changed his name to Marcus Aurelius Commodus Antoninus. For the majority of his reign Commodus was popular among the people, but his policy of taxing the senatorial class to fund his civic munificence caused tensions between the Emperor and the Senate. His claim as the new founder of Rome, now called Colonia Lucia Annia Commodiana, was a sign of his increasing megalomania, so too his renaming of the months after his many titles. After several unsuccessful attempts on his life, he was finally strangled by an athlete named Narcissus on 31 December 192, bringing an end to the Antonine Dynasty.
Compared with other emperors whose memories were condemned (damnatio memoriae), rather more of his portraits survive due in part to his rehabilitation and divinization under Septimius Severus. The present portrait compares favorably with examples produced towards the end of his reign, when his curls appear less tousled and his beard somewhat longer. See for example the well-known bust of Commodus in the guise of Herakles, sculpted circa 191-192, no. 243 in Kleiner, Roman Sculpture.
Compared with other emperors whose memories were condemned (damnatio memoriae), rather more of his portraits survive due in part to his rehabilitation and divinization under Septimius Severus. The present portrait compares favorably with examples produced towards the end of his reign, when his curls appear less tousled and his beard somewhat longer. See for example the well-known bust of Commodus in the guise of Herakles, sculpted circa 191-192, no. 243 in Kleiner, Roman Sculpture.