Watch List notes:

THE ROMAN EMPIRE
Aelius caesar, 136 -138

Sestertius 137, Æ 26.10 g. L AELIVS – CAESAR Bareheaded bust r. Rev. T – R POT – COS II S – C Salus seated l. feeding out of patera snake coiled around altar and resting l. arm on back of chair; in exergue, SALVS. C 44. BMC Hadrian 1926. RIC 1063.
Very rare and in exceptional condition for the issue. A superb portrait of high style
struck in high relief and an enamel-like dark green patina, an insignificant
double-struck on reverse, otherwise good extremely fine


Aelius Caesar, formerly known as L. Ceionius Commodus (Aelius Spartianus recounts his life in Historia Augusta) was of Etruscan origin. He became consul in AD 136, having been adopted by Hadrian in the summer of that year. His appointment came as a general surprise: according to the gossip, Hadrian chose him for his beauty, or perhaps because he considered him a suitable caretaker who would make way for his own favourite, M. Annius Verus, just fifteen years old at the time. In the opinion of Carcopino, Aelius had been adopted because he was Hadrian's illegitimate child. A wan figure with delicate constitution, he suffered a heavy fall while making an address of thanks for Hadrian and died of an haemorrhage. The Historia Augusta (Vita Ael 7) tells us that "Hadrian had gigantic statues raised to Aelius Verus in all regions of the empire, temples too in some cities, and desired that Aelius' son Verus, who had remained within the imperial family after his father's death, be adopted as his grandson, by Antoninus Pius together with Marcus."