Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XXV 22-23 Sep 2022
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Aelius (adopted son of Hadrian), as Caesar, AV Aureus. Rome, AD 137. L•AELIVS CAESAR, bare head to left / TRIB POT COS II, Concordia seated to left, holding patera and leaning arm on cornucopiae set on throne; CONCORD in exergue. RIC II.3 2707; RIC II 443c; C. 12; BMCRE 999; Calicó 1445. 7.49g, 19mm, 6h.
Good Very Fine. Very Rare.
Ex Collection of GK, Ukrainian Emigrant, Roma Numismatics Ltd., Auction XXI, 25 March 2021, lot 614;
Ex Numismatica Ars Classica AG, Auction 95, 6 October 2016, lot 265.
Suffering from ill health, in AD 136 Hadrian looked to the question of succession and settled upon Lucius Ceionius Commodus, consul for that year, to succeed him. Lucius Aelius Caesar, as was his new official name, was lacking in military and administrative experience and so was granted tribunician power and sent to the Danube Frontier to govern Pannonia. However, he was destined never to succeed Hadrian, dying in AD 138 and leaving the ailing Emperor heirless once more.
Following the scandal created in AD 130 when Hadrian was moved to establish a cult and mint coins (see lot 787) in honour of his favourite Antinous, who had drowned in the Nile whilst touring the province with the Emperor, swirling rumours emerged that Hadrian had chosen Aelius as a successor against the wishes of everyone simply on account of his good looks. Earlier historians favoured the view that Aelius was Hadrian's illegitimate son, as suggested by the historian Carcopino, but this theory has been largely discredited. More likely, Aelius won the approval of Hadrian on account of his being a learned and cultured man with refined tastes, who would have naturally shared many of Hadrian's own artistic and cultural interests.
After the death of Aelius, Hadrian adopted Aurelius Antoninus, the future Emperor Antoninus Pius, but required him in turn to adopt Aelius' son and Hadrian's great-nephew by marriage, Marcus Aurelius, to succeed him.
Good Very Fine. Very Rare.
Ex Collection of GK, Ukrainian Emigrant, Roma Numismatics Ltd., Auction XXI, 25 March 2021, lot 614;
Ex Numismatica Ars Classica AG, Auction 95, 6 October 2016, lot 265.
Suffering from ill health, in AD 136 Hadrian looked to the question of succession and settled upon Lucius Ceionius Commodus, consul for that year, to succeed him. Lucius Aelius Caesar, as was his new official name, was lacking in military and administrative experience and so was granted tribunician power and sent to the Danube Frontier to govern Pannonia. However, he was destined never to succeed Hadrian, dying in AD 138 and leaving the ailing Emperor heirless once more.
Following the scandal created in AD 130 when Hadrian was moved to establish a cult and mint coins (see lot 787) in honour of his favourite Antinous, who had drowned in the Nile whilst touring the province with the Emperor, swirling rumours emerged that Hadrian had chosen Aelius as a successor against the wishes of everyone simply on account of his good looks. Earlier historians favoured the view that Aelius was Hadrian's illegitimate son, as suggested by the historian Carcopino, but this theory has been largely discredited. More likely, Aelius won the approval of Hadrian on account of his being a learned and cultured man with refined tastes, who would have naturally shared many of Hadrian's own artistic and cultural interests.
After the death of Aelius, Hadrian adopted Aurelius Antoninus, the future Emperor Antoninus Pius, but required him in turn to adopt Aelius' son and Hadrian's great-nephew by marriage, Marcus Aurelius, to succeed him.