Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XIII 23 March 2017
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Sabina BI Tetradrachm of Alexandria, Egypt. Dated Year 15 = AD 130-131. CABEINA CEBACTH, diademed and draped bust right / CABEINA CEBACTH, Sabina seated left, holding corn-ears and sceptre; LIE (date) above. Milne 1306; Emmett 1334; Curtis 558-559, 561; BMC 917 var. 13.68g, 25mm, 12h.
Good Extremely Fine, attractive and still partially lustrous metal. Extremely Rare, and likely the finest known example.
Sabina is here depicted wearing an intricately detailed headdress and diadem, but underlying this proud representation was a dark secret: the empress is known to have had an affair with Suetonius, her husband Hadrian's personal secretary, an affair recorded in the Historia Augusta, Life of Hadrian (1.11.3). However, it is also known that Hadrian was not left in the position of the cuckold, as he had a famously passionate relationship of his own with his favourite, Antinous. This interesting coin is a good exemplar of the power of propaganda and the representation of the Imperial family as a united front. It highlights the importance given to the portrayal of the emperor and his family, ensuring that they be seen, from the outside at least, as models of dignity and virtue. The charming portrayal of Sabina on this issue, which was struck in the same year Suetonius died, may have coincided with a renewal and strengthening of the ties between the emperor and his empress.
Good Extremely Fine, attractive and still partially lustrous metal. Extremely Rare, and likely the finest known example.
Sabina is here depicted wearing an intricately detailed headdress and diadem, but underlying this proud representation was a dark secret: the empress is known to have had an affair with Suetonius, her husband Hadrian's personal secretary, an affair recorded in the Historia Augusta, Life of Hadrian (1.11.3). However, it is also known that Hadrian was not left in the position of the cuckold, as he had a famously passionate relationship of his own with his favourite, Antinous. This interesting coin is a good exemplar of the power of propaganda and the representation of the Imperial family as a united front. It highlights the importance given to the portrayal of the emperor and his family, ensuring that they be seen, from the outside at least, as models of dignity and virtue. The charming portrayal of Sabina on this issue, which was struck in the same year Suetonius died, may have coincided with a renewal and strengthening of the ties between the emperor and his empress.