Roma Numismatics Ltd
E-Sale 32 7 January 2017
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Hadrian Ӕ As. Rome, AD 119-121. IMP CAESAR TRAIANVS HADRIANVS AVG, laureate head right, with drapery on far shoulder / PONT MAX TR POT COS III, Britannia seated facing, foot on rock, resting head on hand and holding sceptre; large shield right; S-C across fields; BRITANNIA in exergue. RIC 577b. 9.43g, 26mm, 5h.
Very Fine. Very Rare.
Featured continuously on British coins from 1672-2008, Britannia is the Roman personification of the island province of Britain, and first appeared on coins during the reign of Hadrian as this very well preserved example illustrates. Intended to be a visual signifier of the province itself, Britannia is appropriately equipped with a spear and a distinctive shield with a sharp central point, both military attributes referencing Britain's position at the farthest edge of Roman power. She is also well clothed against the inclement weather of the island in a Birrus Britannicus, or hooded cloak.
Hadrian's reign was characterised by his travels abroad as he gave direct instruction for the defence and enhancement of the empire. He is known to have visited Britain around AD 122, when he ordered that the northern frontier of the empire be protected by a monumental construction known to us as Hadrian's Wall. However, coins featuring Britannia were struck before the building of the wall began, as the titles afforded Hadrian on this issue of asses and the style of the portraiture firmly dates the coin to between 119 and 121, so she cannot have been linked to this event. Though a rebellion in the north of the province was suppressed early in Hadrian's reign by the Governor, there was no major event to precipitate an issue of commemorative coinage, leading us to surmise that the appearance of Britannia before Hadrian's visit was planned carefully at the mint in Rome where these coins were struck to fit the pattern of personifications appearing on the coinage for other provinces.
Very Fine. Very Rare.
Featured continuously on British coins from 1672-2008, Britannia is the Roman personification of the island province of Britain, and first appeared on coins during the reign of Hadrian as this very well preserved example illustrates. Intended to be a visual signifier of the province itself, Britannia is appropriately equipped with a spear and a distinctive shield with a sharp central point, both military attributes referencing Britain's position at the farthest edge of Roman power. She is also well clothed against the inclement weather of the island in a Birrus Britannicus, or hooded cloak.
Hadrian's reign was characterised by his travels abroad as he gave direct instruction for the defence and enhancement of the empire. He is known to have visited Britain around AD 122, when he ordered that the northern frontier of the empire be protected by a monumental construction known to us as Hadrian's Wall. However, coins featuring Britannia were struck before the building of the wall began, as the titles afforded Hadrian on this issue of asses and the style of the portraiture firmly dates the coin to between 119 and 121, so she cannot have been linked to this event. Though a rebellion in the north of the province was suppressed early in Hadrian's reign by the Governor, there was no major event to precipitate an issue of commemorative coinage, leading us to surmise that the appearance of Britannia before Hadrian's visit was planned carefully at the mint in Rome where these coins were struck to fit the pattern of personifications appearing on the coinage for other provinces.