Tmolos-Aureliopolis (AD 177-192) AE 38 - Commodus

Commodus, 177-192 AD. AE38 (29.53g, 12h). Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / Dionysus holding scepter in chariot drawn left by biga of centaurs. Fine, brown and green rough surfaces, minor deposits. Very rare. Ex. Wagner Coll.

According to Euripides (Bacchae 461-464), Mount Tmolus was the birthplace of the god Dionysus. The son of Zeus and Semele (a princess of Thebes), Dionysus was a god of fertility, vegetation and wine. He is often depicted being transported in a car drawn either by panthers, or (as in this case) by centaurs, surrounded by an entourage of satyrs, sileni, maenads, and nymphs. A number of important festivals were held in his honor; most famous were the Lesser or Rural Dionysia (in late December), the Greater or City Dionysia (in late spring), the Anthesteria (in early spring), and the Lenaea (in winter). His characteristic worship was ecstatic, and women, known as maenads, were prominently involved. Votaries, through music, dancing, and drinking, and through eating flesh and blood of sacrificial animals, attempted to merge their identities with the wildness of nature.