Nomos 38

Hadrian, 117-138. Aureus (Gold, 20 mm, 7.35 g, 6 h), Rome, 129-130. HADRIANVS - AVGVSTVS P P Bare-headed and draped bust of Hadrian to right, seen from behind. Rev. COS III P•P Hadrian, in military dress with his cloak flying out behind him, riding a horse rearing to right, holding a couched spear with his right hand. Calicó 1247 (same dies). Cohen 501. RIC II.3, 1055 (this coin cited). The obverse of this specimen published as no. 212 in A. Pangerl, 500 Years of Roman Coin Portraits, 2017. A splendid example, with a particularly noble portrait of the emperor, struck in high relief. A few light marks, otherwise, good extremely fine.

From the von Bülow Collection, ex Numismatica Ars Classica 78, 26 May 2014, 943.

The emperor on horseback, brandishing a lance in the style of Alexander the Great reincarnate. A martial expression of imperial prowess worthy of a mighty conqueror. Alas, Hadrian is not known for the expansion of the empire but for its consolidation and safeguarding by defensive structures such as Hadian’s Wall and the Limes along the Danube and through the deserts of Arabia and North Africa. The scene depicted on this spectacular aureus is reminiscent of Sir Humphrey, the smart mandarin of the 1990s UK TV drama series “Yes, Prime Minister”, who advised his master on the dress-code for leaders in news interviews: "[Wear] a light-coloured, business-like suit if you are going to say that there is no new information, and a dark-coloured, traditional suit if you are going to announce big changes." Hadrian made big changes. No more expansionist wars. No more spoils for the troops! Therefore, he had to play to the ranks of the traditionalists. Sporting an army officer’s beard (not that of a philosopher as is sometimes wrongly claimed), charging on a stallion to defend the empire, his purple cloak flying in the wind. It is quite fitting that in the very same year this coin was minted Hadrian traveled to the East and South of his realm, and his journey is remembered in the triumphal arch of Gerasa (today’s Jerash in Jordan) on the eastern boarder of the empire. A victory monument for an emperor of peace. From Jordan he travelled on to Egypt, where a certain youth from Bithynia drowned in the Nile... but that’s a different story altogether.