Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XXI 24-25 Mar 2021
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Hadrian AV Aureus. Rome, AD 121-123. IMP CAESAR TRAIAN HADRIANVS AVG, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust to right / P M TR P COS III, Jupiter, naked to waist, seated to left on throne, holding thunderbolt and sceptre. RIC II.3 513; BMCRE 107 var. (legend break differs to example here); Calicó 1304a. 7.24g, 20mm, 6h.
Good Extremely Fine.
From a private European collection.
This beautiful aureus was struck after Hadrian had assumed the consulship for the third time in AD 119. In the days of the Republic to assume the consulship once, let alone twice or three times was one of the greatest honours to which a senator could aspire, and was often the culmination of a lifetime of public service both in government and on the field of battle. The Historia Augusta relates that "his own third consulship he held for only four months" and that "having himself been consul three times, he reappointed many to the consulship for the third time and men without number to a second term" (HA 8.5-6). Hadrian's largesse and generosity towards the Senate in the early years of his reign stands in stark contrast to the austere, even hostile, attitude that characterise his last; his successor Antoninus Pius earned that most recognisable of cognomens for assuring the posthumous deification of Hadrian, possibly helped by the fact that "as Hadrian grew more cruel, he rescued many senators from the Emperor" (HA 24.4).
Good Extremely Fine.
From a private European collection.
This beautiful aureus was struck after Hadrian had assumed the consulship for the third time in AD 119. In the days of the Republic to assume the consulship once, let alone twice or three times was one of the greatest honours to which a senator could aspire, and was often the culmination of a lifetime of public service both in government and on the field of battle. The Historia Augusta relates that "his own third consulship he held for only four months" and that "having himself been consul three times, he reappointed many to the consulship for the third time and men without number to a second term" (HA 8.5-6). Hadrian's largesse and generosity towards the Senate in the early years of his reign stands in stark contrast to the austere, even hostile, attitude that characterise his last; his successor Antoninus Pius earned that most recognisable of cognomens for assuring the posthumous deification of Hadrian, possibly helped by the fact that "as Hadrian grew more cruel, he rescued many senators from the Emperor" (HA 24.4).