AR Denarius, A.D. 189, Rome, 16.4mm, 3.40g, 0°, RIC III 176.
Obv: M COMM ANT P FEL AVG BRIT. Laureate head right.
Rev: MIN VICT P M TR P XIIII COS V P P. Minerva standing left holding Victory and spear, shield at feet, trophy behind.
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Marcus Aurelius Commodus Antoninus Augustus was Roman Emperor from 180 to 192. He ruled as co-emperor with his father Marcus Aurelius from 177 until his father's death in 180 while at the Danubian front. His accession as emperor was the first time a son had succeeded his father since Titus succeeded Vespasian in 79.

The reign of Commodus was comparatively peaceful in the military sense but was marked by political strife and the increasingly capricious behaviour of the emperor himself. In the view of Dio Cassius, a contemporary observer, his accession marked the descent "from a kingdom of gold to one of rust and iron". Commodus was proud of his physical prowess and thought of himself as the reincarnation of Hercules. He ordered many statues to be made showing him dressed as Hercules with a lion's hide and a club. He even fought in the arena as a gladiator, frequently emulating the legendary hero's feats. A lowly act which was unthinkable for an emperor.

In November 192, Commodus held Plebian Games in which he killed hundreds of animals every morning, and fought as a gladiator every afternoon. In December he announced his intention to inaugurate the year 193 as both consul and gladiator. At this point, the prefect Laetus formed a conspiracy with Eclectus to supplant Commodus with Pertinax. Taking Commodus' mistress Marcia into their confidence, she poisoned his food on December 31 but he vomited up the poison; so the conspirators sent his wrestling partner Narcissus to strangle him in his bath. Upon his death, the Senate declared him a public enemy. Commodus' statues were thrown down and his body was buried in the Mausoleum of Hadrian. However, in 195, the emperor Septimius Severus, trying to gain favor with the family of Marcus Aurelius, rehabilitated Commodus' memory and had the Senate deify him. He was succeeded by Pertinax, whose reign was short lived, being the first of the so-called “Year of the Five Emperors”. Commodus's death marked the end of the Nervan-Antonian dynasty.