Description

Commodus. AD 177-192. Æ Sestertius 30 mm, British Victory issue.
Rome mint. Struck AD 185.

Laureate head right.   Rev:  Victory seated right on pile of arms,
inscribing shield set on knee with long stylus; VICT BRIT in exergue.

RIC III 452

Fine

The title suggests that Commodus was present at his father’s victory over the Marcomanni. He mopped up the deserters in Gaul in a military campaign, and a revolt in Brittany was put down by two legions brought over from Britain. In Britain in 184, the governor Ulpius Marcellus re-advanced the Roman frontier northward to the Antonine Wall, but the legionaries revolted against his harsh discipline and acclaimed another legate, Priscus, as emperor. This coin commemorates [VICT BRIT] the success of the legions advancing to the Antonine wall in present day Scotland.