Numismatica Ars Classica
Auction 125 23-24 Jun 2021
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Sabina, wife of Hadrian.
Aureus 128-137, AV 7.16 g. SABINA AVGVSTA – HADRIANI AVG P P Draped bust r. with hair waved, rising into crest on top above diadem. Rev. Vesta seated l., holding palladium in r. hand and sceptre in l. C 84 var. (not draped). BMC Hadrian 922. RIC Hadrian 413a = RIC II, 2484 (these dies). Calicó 1420.
Very rare. Struck on a very broad flan and good very fine
Ex Münzen und Medaillenhandlung Dr. Brandt 8, 1990, 411 and Ira & Larry Goldberg 62, 2011, 3192 sales.
While Sabina's mother, Matidia, may have been quite fond of Hadrian, the same cannot be said of his wife Sabina. Their marriage in 100 essentially guaranteed Hadrian as successor to Trajan, but it did not bring with it domestic bliss. Hadrian was a flagrant adulterer, both with married women and handsome youths such as his favourite companion, the Bithynian youth Antinoüs. Hadrian, however, would not tolerate such behaviour from his wife; in 121 or 122 he dismissed his praetorian prefect Septicius Clarus and the historian Suetonius, both court officials with whom Sabina had developed close relationships. After an unpleasant thirty-six year marriage, Sabina died in 136 or 137. It was widely rumoured that her husband, knowing that his death was not far off, either had her poisoned or forced her to commit suicide.
Aureus 128-137, AV 7.16 g. SABINA AVGVSTA – HADRIANI AVG P P Draped bust r. with hair waved, rising into crest on top above diadem. Rev. Vesta seated l., holding palladium in r. hand and sceptre in l. C 84 var. (not draped). BMC Hadrian 922. RIC Hadrian 413a = RIC II, 2484 (these dies). Calicó 1420.
Very rare. Struck on a very broad flan and good very fine
Ex Münzen und Medaillenhandlung Dr. Brandt 8, 1990, 411 and Ira & Larry Goldberg 62, 2011, 3192 sales.
While Sabina's mother, Matidia, may have been quite fond of Hadrian, the same cannot be said of his wife Sabina. Their marriage in 100 essentially guaranteed Hadrian as successor to Trajan, but it did not bring with it domestic bliss. Hadrian was a flagrant adulterer, both with married women and handsome youths such as his favourite companion, the Bithynian youth Antinoüs. Hadrian, however, would not tolerate such behaviour from his wife; in 121 or 122 he dismissed his praetorian prefect Septicius Clarus and the historian Suetonius, both court officials with whom Sabina had developed close relationships. After an unpleasant thirty-six year marriage, Sabina died in 136 or 137. It was widely rumoured that her husband, knowing that his death was not far off, either had her poisoned or forced her to commit suicide.