Hadrian Bronze As, RIC II, Part 3 (second edition) Hadrian 828

Monetary Context and Denominational Function

During the second century AD, the Roman monetary system functioned as a carefully calibrated bimetallic and base-metal hierarchy anchored by the gold aureus and the silver denarius. Beneath these high-value denominations, brass and copper denominations provided essential liquidity for retail trade, local market transactions, and daily civilian remuneration. The as was the traditional foundation of base-metal accounting, tariffed at one-sixteenth of a denarius and half the value of a brass dupondius. While the dupondius was usually cast and struck from orichalcum (a bright brass alloy prized for its golden hue) and distinguished by a radiate crown on imperial portraits, the as was typically manufactured from pure red copper or an allied bronze alloy, traditionally depicting the emperor with a laurel wreath or bare head. RIC II, Part 3 (second edition) Hadrian 828 fits squarely into this functional niche, serving as a modest denomination that was produced in substantial numbers to sustain urban economic life in Rome and nearby regional markets.

Mint Organization and Production Techniques

All regular bronze asses of this series, including RIC 828, were manufactured at the imperial mint in Rome. By the reign of Hadrian, the mint of Rome operated under a sophisticated administrative and technical framework overseen by the procurator monetae, staffed by specialized imperial freedmen and slaves including die-engravers (scalptores), flan-casters (flaturarii), and coin-strikers (signatores). Production commenced with the casting of individual copper planchets, which were prepared using open or bivalve mould matrices and hammered while cold or slightly heated to achieve the desired roundness and thickness. The weight of the as in this epoch fluctuated across a normal distribution generally centered around 10 to 11 grams, although specimens can range broadly from below 9 grams to over 13 grams due to the batch-weighing practices (al marco) utilized for base-metal minting. Diameters for these asses typically span between 25 and 28 millimetres. The coin dies were carved by hand into tempered iron, resulting in minor stylistic idiosyncrasies between individual die pairs, though the official portraiture maintained strict adherence to imperial iconographic standards.

Obverse Iconography and Style

The obverse of RIC 828 features a right-facing, laureate head of Hadrian. Following the conventions of Hadrianic numismatic portraiture that matured around AD 124 to 125, the emperor is depicted with his characteristic tightly curled hair and trimmed beard, a stylistic departure from the clean-shaven Flavian and Trajanic rulers that reflected his philhellenic inclinations and cultural affinities. The laurel wreath sits firmly on the head, with ties descending toward the nape of the neck. The portrait is executed with measured naturalism, showing a composed facial profile and defined brow. Unlike earlier issues from Hadrian's reign that featured heavy military drapery or cuirasses, this specific type standardizes a simple unadorned head, focusing attention directly on the imperial countenance. Surrounding the portrait is the continuous legend HADRIANVS AVGVSTVS, oriented clockwise along the dotted border.

Reverse Iconography and Political Theology

The reverse iconography of RIC 828 is centered on Salus, the Roman divine personification of health, safety, and public welfare. She is depicted standing draped and turned toward the left. In her outstretched right hand she holds a patera, a shallow sacrificial bowl, over a low cylindrical altar placed at her feet to the left. A sacred serpent is shown coiled around the altar, raising its head toward the patera to consume the ritual offering. In her left hand, Salus holds a long, vertical sceptre resting on the groundline, an attribute emblematic of her divine authority and role in the preservation of the Roman state. The visual pairing of the serpent and the altar evokes the healing cult of Asclepius and the state ceremonies associated with the Salus Publica or Salus Augusti. Through this imagery, the coin communicated imperial piety and invoked divine safeguarding for the emperor himself, thereby promising continued stability and prosperity for the populace of the empire.

Epigraphy and Titulature

The epigraphic composition of RIC 828 reflects a deliberate reform in Hadrian's coinage nomenclature introduced around AD 124 to 125. The obverse legend is trimmed down to the essential, dignified formula HADRIANVS AVGVSTVS, shedding the long accumulative strings of ancestry and military victory titles that characterized the coinage of Trajan and early Hadrianic issues. The reverse legend reads SALVS AVGVSTI along the upper perimeter, identifying the divine personification and framing her protection as specifically directed toward the Augustus. In the exergue beneath the groundline appears COS III, denoting Hadrian's third consulship, an office he entered in AD 119 and retained as his nominal consular iteration for the remainder of his life without renewing the magistracy. In the left and right fields of the reverse appears the formula S C, an abbreviation for Senatus Consulto ('by decree of the Senate'). This traditional formula persisted on imperial base-metal coinage to mark the constitutional authority of the Senate in approving the production of aes, serving as a symbol of institutional harmony between the princeps and the senatorial order.

Typology and Chronological Classification

The modern cataloguing of this issue has evolved significantly through successive revisions of standard reference works. In the original 1926 first edition of RIC II, base-metal types bearing the truncated legend HADRIANVS AVGVSTVS paired with COS III were grouped across broader, less precise chronological intervals. In the second edition, published as RIC II, Part 3 by Richard Abdy and Peter Pfisterer in 2019, the Hadrianic corpus was thoroughly re-evaluated using die studies, hoard evidence, and stylistic sequences. Under this refined framework, Hadrian 828 is placed securely between AD 125 and 127 within the Rome mint's middle coinage. This type is distinguished from sister denominations, such as the sestertius and dupondius with identical or comparable Salus reverse types, by its denomination-specific flan parameters, its laureated rather than radiate portrait, and its precise compositional fabric. It is likewise distinguished from earlier issues dating to AD 119 to 124 where Hadrian retained the title P M TR P COS III or incorporated longer paternal nomenclature.

Circulation, Hoarding, and Archaeological Context

Base-metal coins such as RIC 828 formed the circulatory lifeblood of daily retail transactions throughout Italy and the western provinces of the Roman Empire, including Gaul, Britain, and the Germanies. Unlike precious metal aurei and denarii, which were frequently hoarded in times of crisis and often travelled across vast distances through military payroll distribution, copper asses were heavily used and spent locally. Consequently, surviving specimens of RIC 828 frequently exhibit moderate to extensive surface wear, patination changes, and environmental pitting caused by prolonged burial in soil. Archaeological deposits from military vici, urban market sites, and river votive deposits regularly yield asses of Hadrian, demonstrating that issues of the AD 125 to 127 period circulated for decades, often continuing in active use well into the reigns of Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius before attrition and currency reforms gradually removed them from commercial circulation.

References

1. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, Vol. III: Nerva to Hadrian. pp. 436-438
2. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC II, Part 3 (second edition) Hadrian 828. ric.2_3(2).hdn.828
3. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Vol. II, Part 3: Hadrian. p. 158, no. 828
4. Untersuchungen zur römischen Reichsprägung des zweiten Jahrhunderts, Teil II: Die Reichsprägung zur Zeit des Hadrian. pp. 110-114