Hadrian Sestertius, RIC II, Part 3 (second edition) Hadrian 1717

Monetary Context and Denominational Role

During the High Roman Empire, the sestertius served as the flagship large bronze denomination of everyday commerce, official accounting, and state messaging. Valued at one-quarter of a silver denarius or four copper asses, the denomination provided substantial surface area for intricate die-engraving, rendering it an ideal medium for broadcasting significant imperial achievements, dynastic milestones, and religious ceremonial acts to the wider Roman populace. By the reign of Hadrian (117 to 138 AD), Roman imperial bronze coinage maintained the bimetallic base-metal convention established under the Augustan monetary reforms, dividing fiduciary token production between pure copper for smaller denominations such as the as and orichalcum, a golden-hued zinc-copper alloy, for the sestertius and dupondius. The sestertius fulfilled both high-volume market needs and major fiscal distributions, such as donatives to the military and congiaria to the urban plebs. Its prominent physical scale allowed the central monetary administration to circulate detailed visual narratives that complemented the smaller, more standardized silver denarii and gold aurei. The adventus issue for Africa, catalogued as RIC II, Part 3 (second edition) Hadrian 1717, belongs to Hadrian's expansive travel series, an unprecedented numismatic program commemorating the princeps's extensive journeys across the provinces. Within this monetary context, the issue emphasized imperial benefaction, administrative unity, and the direct relationship between the traveling emperor and Rome's vital grain-producing territory.

Mint Organization and Production Technology

The entire production of Hadrian's official adventus sestertii took place at the primary imperial mint in Rome. Although Hadrian spent the majority of his principate traveling across the Mediterranean basin, the technical apparatus of monetary authority remained concentrated in the capital under the oversight of imperial freedmen and senatorial magistrates. The Rome mint was organized into distinct officinae (workshops), where skilled celatores (die-engravers) translated complex official themes into master dies, executing portraits and allegorical scenes with remarkable stylistic consistency. Production of the sestertius required substantial physical force and metallurgical control. Blanks of orichalcum were cast in specialized open or two-part molds to attain the standard module of approximately 31 to 33 millimeters in diameter and a typical target weight near 24 to 28 grams, though individual specimens exhibit considerable variation due to al marco striking practices. Once cast, the blanks were heated to soften the brass alloy before being positioned between an anvil die and a hand-held punch die. Repeated manual hammer strikes transferred the high-relief portraits and intricate reverse figures onto the metal. Die alignment across this series predominantly follows the traditional vertical or near-vertical axis typical of the Rome mint in the second century AD.

Obverse Iconography and Imperial Portraiture

The obverse of this sestertius presents a mature, idealized portrait of Hadrian facing right. Hadrian is depicted with a laurel wreath, tied at the back of the head with ribbons flowing down the neck, and his shoulders are draped in imperial mantle drapery, typically viewed from the rear or side. Hadrian was the first Roman emperor to consistently adopt a full beard on official coinage, breaking with the clean-shaven tradition of his Julio-Claudian and Flavian predecessors as well as his adoptive father Trajan. In Roman elite culture, this facial hair was understood both as an emblem of Greek philosophical learning and as an aesthetic favored by campaigning soldiers on the frontiers. The die-cutters at the Rome mint captured Hadrian's characteristic facial structure with tight, curling hair, an aquiline nose, and a composed, solemn expression. The combination of the laurel wreath and military drapery projected an image that fused triumphator status with administrative vigilance. The modeling of the musculature and fabric folds displays the refined classicizing aesthetic prevalent in Hadrianic art, underscoring the mature phase of his reign when artistic production in the capital achieved exceptional technical sophistication.

Reverse Design and the Adventus Ceremony

The reverse iconography commemorates the formal adventus of Hadrian into the province of Africa. The adventus was a highly ritualized ceremony marking the peaceful, auspicious entrance of the emperor into a city or territorial jurisdiction. On this type, Hadrian stands on the left facing right, dressed in the formal civil toga of an imperial magistrate. He raises his right hand in an adlocutio or blessing gesture while holding an official volume or scroll in his left hand, symbolizing his administrative authority and judicial beneficence. Opposite the emperor stands Africa, depicted as a female personification facing left. She wears an elephant-skin scalp or headdress, a long-established attributes in Graeco-Roman art that immediately identified the North African continent. In her hands, Africa presents a patera, a shallow libation dish used for liquid offerings, and a bundle of wheat ears, signifying the agrarian wealth and crucial grain supply that Africa guaranteed to the city of Rome. Between Hadrian and Africa stands a burning altar, the locus of their shared religious observance. At the foot of the altar, a sacrificial victim, usually a bull, is depicted ready for consecration. In the exergue below the ground line, the letters S C flank the scene or rest centrally, denoting the authorization of the Senate.

Inscriptions and Epigraphic Analysis

The obverse legend reads HADRIANVS AVG COS III P P, rendered in regular imperial capital lettering along the outer perimeter. The text abbreviates the core titles of the emperor: Hadrianus Augustus, Consul Tertium, and Pater Patriae. Hadrian entered his third and final consulship in 119 AD, and although he did not assume the office again, COS III remained a standard element of his titular formula for the rest of his reign. The addition of P P (Pater Patriae, Father of the Country) provides an important dating criterion: Hadrian initially declined the title at his accession, finally accepting it around 128 AD, thereby establishing that all issues bearing this formula were struck after that year. The reverse legend is divided between the circumferential inscription ADVENTVI AVG AFRICAE and the exergual inscription S C. The dedication ADVENTVI AVG AFRICAE is an epigraphic dative, translating to 'For the arrival of the Augustus in Africa.' This phrasing framed the coin not merely as a record of an event, but as a commemorative dedication celebrating the public vows, sacrifices, and peace brought about by the emperor's journey. The letters S C, abbreviating Senatus Consulto ('by decree of the Senate'), served as the constitutional validation on base-metal issues, affirming that while the monetary policy was directed by the princeps, the Senate formally sanctioned the fiduciary brass coinage of Rome.

Typological Variations and Chronological Placement

Hadrian visited the province of Africa in the summer of 128 AD, where he famously reviewed the legions stationed at Lambaesis, inspecting cavalry maneuvers and infantry fortifications. However, the comprehensive travel series celebrating his provincial tours was not struck immediately upon his return. Modern numismatic research, culminating in the second edition of the Roman Imperial Coinage (RIC II, Part 3), demonstrates that the bulk of the adventus, restitutor, and exercitus series was struck retrospectively between approximately 130 and 133 AD, during Hadrian's later years in Rome. Within this broader travel emission, type 1717 is defined specifically by the pairing of the laureate and draped bust facing right with the adventus reverse featuring the altar and bull. While closely related sestertii depict bare-headed busts, alternative drapery arrangements, or omit the sacrificial bull at the base of the altar, type 1717 maintains this precise iconographic configuration. Minor die variations exist among known specimens regarding the exact positioning of the scroll, the height of the altar flames, and the spacing of the letters S C across the exergue, reflecting the activity of multiple engravers working concurrently within the Rome mint.

Circulation, Hoard Contexts, and Survival

As a sestertius struck in Rome, RIC II, Part 3 Hadrian 1717 was integrated into the wider Mediterranean monetary pool. Large bronze coins moved through trade networks, military payment distributions, and state expenditures across Italy and the western provinces, including North Africa itself, Gaul, and the Danube frontier. Because sestertii possessed considerable purchasing power, they circulated extensively over multiple decades, often remaining in active commercial use until the debasements and monetary reforms of the mid-third century AD. Hoard evidence from across the Roman world frequently features Hadrianic sestertii alongside issues of Trajan and Antoninus Pius, often exhibiting noticeable surface wear that attests to protracted circulation. Due to its striking commemorative imagery, the ADVENTVI AVG AFRICAE type has long been noted in antiquarian and scholarly documentation. Surviving specimens often exhibit heavy patination characteristic of long-term soil burial in varied European and North African environments, with varying degrees of preservation across high-relief features such as the elephant headdress and the sacrificial altar.

References

1. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Volume II, Part 3: From Hadrian to Antoninus Pius: Hadrian. RIC II.3, no. 1717
2. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum (BMCRE), Volume III: Nerva to Hadrian. Hadrian, Travel Series: Africa
3. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC II, Part 3 (second edition) Hadrian 1717. Type ric.2_3(2).hdn.1717
4. Untersuchungen zur römischen Reichsprägung des zweiten Jahrhunderts, Teil II: Die Reichsprägung zur Zeit des Hadrian. Hadrian travel emissions, adventus types
5. The Hadrianic School: A Chapter in the History of Greek Art. The Province Types: Africa