(108) Commodus - AV aureus, A.D. 177-182, 7.08 g. (inv. 91.189).
Obverse: Draped bust of Crispina r.; CRISPINA AVGVSTA: Crispina Augusta.
Reverse: Pudicitia standing l., veiled with r. holding veil in front of face: PVDICITIA: Pudicitia.
Provenance: Abner Kreisberg, 1976.
Bibliography: H. Mattingly and E.A. Sydenham, The Roman Imperial Coinage III: Antoninus Pius to Commodus (London 1930) 285.


Bruttia Crispina was the daughter of a consul under Antoninus Pius. She married Commodus in A.D. 177 and was given the title Augusta. To judge from her coin portraits she was beautiful. She was accused of adultery, exiled to Capri, and executed. Lucilla, the sister of Commodus, met the same fate when she was accused of plotting against him.

Little else is known of Crispina's life. The reverses of her coins depict the usual goddesses and personifications appropriate to the empress and to the celebration of the imperial marriage. On this coin Pudicitia, the personification of chastity and modesty, is characterized by the veil she pulls across her face. The portrait on the obverse depicts a beautiful young woman wearing her hair braided around the face and backward into a bun.

K.L.M.


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