Commodus - denarius Commodus as Hercules! (ME2420)

Commodus AR Denarius. Rome, AD 191-192. L AEL AVREL COMM AVG P FEL, bust right in lion's skin headdress / HERCVL ROMAN AVGV in four lines across club within wreath. RIC 251. 2.96 g, 18 mm

During the latter part of his reign, Commodus began associating himself with Hercules. While the Antonine emperors had traditionally associated themselves with the divine hero, Commodus appropriated the iconography more aggressively by wearing a lion skin and carrying a club, both main attributes of Hercules, and having statues of himself dressed as the god erected throughout the empire