Roman Imperial: Hadrian (AD 117-138). AV aureus (19mm, 7.28 gm, 5h). NGC Choice XF 5/5 - 3/5, Fine Style, edge cuts....

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Handsome Imperial Portraiture

Hadrian (AD 117-138). AV aureus (19mm, 7.28 gm, 5h). NGC Choice XF 5/5 - 3/5, Fine Style, edge cuts. Rome, AD 136. HADRIANVS-AVG COS III P P, bare head of Hadrian right / LIBERALIT-A-S-AVG•VII, Liberalitas standing facing, head left, tessera with six holes upward in right hand, cornucopia cradled in left arm. Calicó 1286 (same dies). RIC II.3, 2214. Fine Style devices depicting a handsome and naturalistic portrait of the emperor.

Publius Aelius Hadrianus was born in AD 76, the son of a distinguished Spanish senator and related through his mother to the future Emperor Trajan, who took him into his household when Hadrian was nine years old. After Trajan's accession, Hadrian held a series of civilian posts, including a consulship in AD 108, and commanded legions during the Dacian and Parthian wars. Hadrian was not formally adopted until Trajan lay on his deathbed in August, AD 117; after succeeding to the throne, Hadrian abandoned many of Trajan's over-ambitious conquests and engaged in a policy of peace abroad and reform at home. He spent most of his 21-year reign traveling, visiting every province of the Roman Empire. Under his patronage, Roman art and sculpture reached its creative peak. Hadrian came to see himself as a "second Augustus," providing the empire with a new foundation as a vast commonwealth of nations under Rome's guiding hand.

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