Numismatica Ars Classica
Auction 132 30-31 May 2022
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Aelius caesar, 136 - 138
Quinarius circa 137, AV 3.69 g. L·AELIVS – CAESAR Bare bust r. Rev. TR·POT – COS·II Felicitas standing l., holding caduceus and cornucopia. C 51. BMC Hadrian 968 and pl. 66, 14 (these dies). Mazzini 51 (this coin). RIC II, Hadrian 430 = RIC II.3, Hadrian 2633. King 66c (this coin). Biaggi 693 (this coin).
Of the highest rarity, only three quinarii for Aelius are known of which this is the only
one in private hands. A very elegant portrait, the work of a talented
engraver, struck in high relief. Extremely fine
Ex NAC 21, 2001, 460 and NAC 24, 2002, 87 sales. From the Mazzini and Biaggi collections.
Aelius Caesar, formerly known as L. Ceionius Commodus (Aelius Spartianus recounts his life in Historia Augusta) was of Etruscan origin. He became consul in AD 136, having been adopted by Hadrian in the summer of that year. His appointment came as a general surprise: according to the gossip, Hadrian chose him for his beauty, or perhaps because he considered him a suitable caretaker who would make way for his own favourite, M. Annius Verus, just fifteen years old at the time. In the opinion of Carcopino, Aelius had been adopted because he was Hadrian's illegitimate child. A wan figure with delicate constitution, he suffered a heavy fall while making an address of thanks for Hadrian and died of haemorrhage. The Historia Augusta (Vita Ael 7) tells us that "Hadrian had gigantic statues raised to Aelius Verus in all regions of the empire, temples too in some cities, and desired that Aelius' son Verus, who had remained within the imperial family after his father's death, be adopted as his grandson, by Antoninus Oius together with Marcus."
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Quinarius circa 137, AV 3.69 g. L·AELIVS – CAESAR Bare bust r. Rev. TR·POT – COS·II Felicitas standing l., holding caduceus and cornucopia. C 51. BMC Hadrian 968 and pl. 66, 14 (these dies). Mazzini 51 (this coin). RIC II, Hadrian 430 = RIC II.3, Hadrian 2633. King 66c (this coin). Biaggi 693 (this coin).
Of the highest rarity, only three quinarii for Aelius are known of which this is the only
one in private hands. A very elegant portrait, the work of a talented
engraver, struck in high relief. Extremely fine
Ex NAC 21, 2001, 460 and NAC 24, 2002, 87 sales. From the Mazzini and Biaggi collections.
Aelius Caesar, formerly known as L. Ceionius Commodus (Aelius Spartianus recounts his life in Historia Augusta) was of Etruscan origin. He became consul in AD 136, having been adopted by Hadrian in the summer of that year. His appointment came as a general surprise: according to the gossip, Hadrian chose him for his beauty, or perhaps because he considered him a suitable caretaker who would make way for his own favourite, M. Annius Verus, just fifteen years old at the time. In the opinion of Carcopino, Aelius had been adopted because he was Hadrian's illegitimate child. A wan figure with delicate constitution, he suffered a heavy fall while making an address of thanks for Hadrian and died of haemorrhage. The Historia Augusta (Vita Ael 7) tells us that "Hadrian had gigantic statues raised to Aelius Verus in all regions of the empire, temples too in some cities, and desired that Aelius' son Verus, who had remained within the imperial family after his father's death, be adopted as his grandson, by Antoninus Oius together with Marcus."
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