01g Hadrian aureus ORIENS

Ruler: Hadrian (117-138 AD)

Obverse: IMP CAES TRAIAN HADRIANO AVG DIVI TRA[iani] PARTH[ici] F[ilius]; Laureate, and cuirassed bust right with slight drapery on left shoulder. 

Reverse:  DIVI NER[vae] NEP[os] P M TR·P·COS· Radiate bust of Sol right; below, ORIENS.

Mint: Rome; Struck in AD 117 at the beginning of Hadrian's reign and shortly after the death of Trajan on his return journey from the campaign against Parthia.

Denomination: Aureus

Weight:   

Reference: RIC II 50, Calico 1293

Provenance:  ex auction Schweizerischer Bankverein 21, Zürich 1989, Nr. 156; ex auction Hirsch Nachf. 161, München 1989, Nr. 600; ex Auction Lanz 144, München 2008, Nr. 488 

Note: The murky circumstances surrounding Hadrian's accession needed to be legitimised. He had, officially, been adopted by Trajan on his deathbed. Yet whether this was actually the case, and whether it was Trajan's uninfluenced will, were subjects of whispered debate. It was rumoured that Plotina might have compelled the dying emperor to adopt her favourite, Hadrian, or even perhaps that Trajan had died leaving no successor and that Plotina had afterwards forged Trajan's will herself. Hadrian was therefore required to cement his own position as well as to consolidate the vast territorial gains of his predecessor, tasks that he undertook quickly and decisively.

Realising the untenable position that the annexation of Mesopotamia had created, Hadrian withdrew the legions stationed there and effectively abandoned this province, also later giving up Armenia to a local king, who was soon defeated by Parthia. Unpopular as Hadrian's abandonment of his predecessor's conquests in Mesopotamia would have been, it did help to stabilise the empire. These tactical withdrawals also left him able to concentrate on quelling the last pockets of resistance left over from the Kitos War, the second great Jewish-Roman war which had begun under Trajan and which was estimated by contemporaries to have cost the lives of many hundreds of thousands of Greeks and Roman citizens. As a result of the insurrection, the Legio VI Ferrata was also moved to a new permanent station at Caesarea Maritima in Judaea.

The rumour of a falsified adoption carried little weight, but in any case Hadrian was keen to emphasise the legitimacy of his position, and therefore we see on his coinage legends proudly proclaiming the deified Trajan and Nerva as his father and grandfather.

The reverse type of Oriens may be understood to have several meanings. At the time it was struck, Hadrian remained in the East consolidating the frontiers of the empire and assisting in the restoration of Egypt, Cyprus, Cyrene and Judaea. Thus it may refer to the new emperor who had arisen in the East, yet it might also be viewed as a celebration of the end to the Jewish rebellion that had so ravaged the eastern provinces. One may also see in this type a melancholic marking of the conclusion to Trajan's glorious conquests on that most distant border of the Roman empire, a demanding campaign that had ultimately claimed the life of this great and wise emperor.

In other words and summing up, this aureus was struck at the very beginning of Hadrian's reign, in A.D. 117, and served to legitimize his claim as Trajan's heir. Although Hadrian was the logical choice to succeed Trajan – one might even say that he had been groomed for the succession – Trajan never formally adopted him until he was on his deathbed. The inscription which begins on the obverse and continues through onto the reverse honors both Hadrian's deified father, Trajan, and his grandfather, Nerva (both by adoption). Although the bust of Sol can be found on earlier issues of Trajan, those of Hadrian notably include the addition of the legend ORIENS below. Oriens in Latin refers to the rising sun, and here seems to symbolize both Hadrian's elevation, which presented a new beginning, and also the fact that he became emperor while in the East (at the time of Trajan's death in A.D. 117, Hadrian was serving as the de facto commander of the eastern army in Trajan's war with the Parthian Empire). Of numismatic interest is the fact that, while its use became common much later during the reign of the third century military emperor Aurelian, this aureus is the first instance in Roman where the legend ORIENS appears.

Colección : 18b Roman Aurei