Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XIII 23 March 2017
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Hadrian Æ Sestertius. Rome, AD 119-122. IMP CAESAR TRAIANVS HADRIANVS AVG PM TR P COS III, laureate bust right, drapery on far shoulder / LOCVPLETATORI ORBIS TERRARVM, Hadrian seated left on raised platform, extending arm before him, with Liberalitas, standing left, emptying cornucopiae into folds of togas of two citizens standing right on ground before them; SC in exergue. RIC 585b; BMC 1194; Hill 245. 25.48g, 33mm, 6h.
About Extremely Fine. Very Rare, and in exceptionally good condition for the issue.
Known from ancient sources such as Dio Cassius (LXIX.8.1a) to have made regular and generous largesse to the the people of Rome, Italy and indeed many of the provinces as well, Hadrian is here presented as the 'Benefactor of the World' in a reverse legend never used before or seen again on any Roman coinage. Taken with the rare type of the same issue that depicts the similarly unusual scene of a lictor burning the promissory notes relating to tax arrears of nine million sestertii that Hadrian had cancelled, which is accompanied by the legend RELIQVA VETERA HS NOVIES MILL ABOLITA (RIC 590 ff.; BMC 1206 ff.), it would appear that the munificence of Hadrian knew no bounds.
Modern historians have, to a certain extent, viewed this behaviour as simply a means to securing his power in the wake of the scandal surrounding the legality of his adoption by Trajan and the execution of four senators suspected of conspiring against him, however the regularity and continued occurrence of liberalities throughout his reign as we find recorded on the coinage perhaps suggest that Hadrian also had a desire to raise the living standards of the citizenry of all classes and distributed the wealth of the state as he saw appropriate.
About Extremely Fine. Very Rare, and in exceptionally good condition for the issue.
Known from ancient sources such as Dio Cassius (LXIX.8.1a) to have made regular and generous largesse to the the people of Rome, Italy and indeed many of the provinces as well, Hadrian is here presented as the 'Benefactor of the World' in a reverse legend never used before or seen again on any Roman coinage. Taken with the rare type of the same issue that depicts the similarly unusual scene of a lictor burning the promissory notes relating to tax arrears of nine million sestertii that Hadrian had cancelled, which is accompanied by the legend RELIQVA VETERA HS NOVIES MILL ABOLITA (RIC 590 ff.; BMC 1206 ff.), it would appear that the munificence of Hadrian knew no bounds.
Modern historians have, to a certain extent, viewed this behaviour as simply a means to securing his power in the wake of the scandal surrounding the legality of his adoption by Trajan and the execution of four senators suspected of conspiring against him, however the regularity and continued occurrence of liberalities throughout his reign as we find recorded on the coinage perhaps suggest that Hadrian also had a desire to raise the living standards of the citizenry of all classes and distributed the wealth of the state as he saw appropriate.