Gold Aureus of Commodus, 7.08 g.
Title
Gold Aureus of Commodus, 7.08 g.
Creator
Commodus
Date
177-182 CE
Description
Obverse: Draped bust of Crispina facing right; CRISPINA AVGVSTA: Crispina Augusta.
Reverse: Pudicitia standing facing left, veiled with right hand holding veil in front of face: PVDICITIA: Pudicitia.
Style/Period: Roman Empire
Bruttia Crispina was the daughter of a consul under Antoninus Pius. She married Commodus in 177 CE 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.
-- Kathleen L. Metzger Newmyer, LU '94
Bibliography: H. Mattingly and E.A. Sydenham, The Roman Imperial Coinage III: Antoninus Pius to Commodus (London 1930) 285.
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.
-- Kathleen L. Metzger Newmyer, LU '94
Bibliography: H. Mattingly and E.A. Sydenham, The Roman Imperial Coinage III: Antoninus Pius to Commodus (London 1930) 285.
Source
Former collection of Ottilia Buerger. Purchased from Abner Kreisberg, 1976.
Identifier
91.189
Rights
Wriston Art Center Galleries, Lawrence University, Appleton, WI,wriston-gallery@lawrence.edu,920-832-6890
Subject
Roman, Empire, Crispina, Pudicitia, Commodus
Files
Citation
Commodus, “Gold Aureus of Commodus, 7.08 g.,” Lawrence University Classics Department & Ottilia Buerger Coin Collections, accessed November 5, 2026, https://thor.lawrence.edu/omeka/buerger/items/show/295.