Hadrian Silver Denarius, RIC II, Part 3 (second edition) Hadrian 3

Monetary and Political Context

The accession of Hadrian in August AD 117 arrived under fraught geopolitical and administrative circumstances. Trajan had fallen gravely ill during his return from the eastern campaigns, dying at Selinus in Cilicia. Although Hadrian was appointed governor of Syria and commander of the eastern legions, his formal adoption by Trajan was made public only days before or immediately following Trajan's death, stirring whispers of political contrivance in Rome. The monetary authorities at the capital immediately faced the urgent task of legitimizing Hadrian's authority before the Senate and the Roman military. The silver denarius was the principal unit of civil and military remuneration throughout the empire, rendering it the ideal medium for state propaganda. Rather than merely commemorating Trajan or presenting Hadrian in isolation, RIC II, Part 3 (second edition) Hadrian 3 was struck to emphasize the uninterrupted continuity of the principate. The issue reinforced the narrative that Hadrian was the handpicked heir of the Optimus Princeps, investing Hadrian with full administrative and religious legitimacy.

Production Standards and Minting

This denarius was produced exclusively at the primary imperial mint in Rome. Output from the mint of Rome in late AD 117 was characterized by rigorous administrative oversight and high technical execution, continuing the operational standards established under Trajan. Surviving specimens of RIC II, Part 3 (second edition) Hadrian 3 conform to the prevailing monetary standard for Trajanic and early Hadrianic denarii, which operated around an average nominal weight of 3.2 to 3.4 grams, though individual surviving pieces vary above or below this range due to flan preparation variance and wear. The silver alloy maintained an imperial standard of approximately 89 to 90 percent fineness, continuing the debasement thresholds introduced during the middle of Trajan's reign. Production was conducted using hinged or carefully aligned hand dies, typically producing die axes around 6 o'clock or 12 o'clock, reflecting the high mechanical regularity of the urban mint's officinae.

Obverse Iconography and Epigraphy

The obverse presents a right-facing bust of Hadrian, laureate and cuirassed, viewed from the front. This portraiture reveals a deliberate transitional aesthetic: while Hadrian's personal facial features and iconic beard are prominent, the portrait retains the energetic, sculpted modeling of late Trajanic portraiture. The presence of military cuirass underlines his status as imperator and successful military commander of the eastern legions, reassuring the military hierarchy of his martial fitness. Encircling the bust is the opening formula of Hadrian's first titular phase: IMP CAES TRAIAN HADRIANO OPT AVG GER DAC. Notably, Hadrian adopts the name Traianus directly alongside his personal name, in the dative case (Hadriano), a linguistic practice inherited from late Trajanic dedicatory issues that marked the emperor as the designated recipient of honors from the Roman Senate and people.

Reverse Design and Succession Propaganda

The reverse of the coin delivers the central political message of the issue through an intimate yet cosmic scene of transmission. Trajan stands to the right, facing left, while Hadrian stands to the left, facing right. Suspended between them, both emperors support a celestial globe. Trajan is depicted in active standing posture, handing over stewardship of the Roman world, while Hadrian receives it as his appointed successor. The globe serves as the ancient emblem of universal dominion (orbis terrarum), indicating that Hadrian's authority encompasses the entire civilized world through legitimate divine and human appointment. The composition leaves no ambiguity regarding the dynastic hierarchy: Trajan is the bequeather, Hadrian the recipient, and the stability of the empire remains unbroken despite the sudden passing of the ruler.

Epigraphic Formulae and Political Titulature

The legends on this type form an unbroken ideological sentence extending across both faces of the coin. The obverse legend reads IMP CAES TRAIAN HADRIANO OPT AVG GER DAC, translating to Imperatori Caesari Traiano Hadriano Optimo Augusto Germanico Dacico. Here, Hadrian borrows Trajan's victorious cognomina (Germanicus and Dacicus) as well as the special title Optimus. The reverse legend continues this extended address: PARTHIC DIVI TRAIAN AVG F P M TR P COS P P, reading Parthico Divi Traiani Augusti Filio, Pontifici Maximo, Tribunicia Potestate, Consuli, Patri Patriae. This reverse epigraphy is crucial: it explicitly calls Hadrian the son of the deified Trajan (Divi Traiani Augusti Filius) and assigns him the triumph of Parthicus. Furthermore, the early claim of Pontifex Maximus and Pater Patriae reflects the comprehensive imperial powers confirmed upon his accession by the Senate, serving as a unified testament of constitutional legality.

Typological Classification and Chronological Placement

In the updated corpus of Roman Imperial Coinage (RIC II, Part 3, second edition), this denarius is catalogued as Hadrian 3, placing it at the very inception of Hadrian's imperial series in AD 117. It corresponds to Hadrian group 1 (Issue 1) of the Rome mint. In earlier scholarship, Mattingly classified related pieces under the first accession series of BMCRE III, and Paul Strack catalogued the type in his foundational 1933 study. The type is narrowly defined by the pairing of the laureate and cuirassed obverse bust with the specific Trajan-and-Hadrian globe presentation reverse. Related companion types struck during the same initial weeks include variants where Hadrian is shown receiving the globe from a personified Providentia, or aurei bearing similar dynastic succession iconography. By late AD 117 or early AD 118, Hadrian's titular formula was reformed, dropping the dative construction HADRIANO OPT and shifting to the nominative HADRIANVS AVG, which promptly brought an end to this brief and evocative accession issue.

Circulation, Hoards, and Survival

Struck during an exceptionally brief window in the late summer and autumn of AD 117, RIC II, Part 3 (second edition) Hadrian 3 saw immediate distribution to fulfill imperial accession donatives and military stipends. Because of its limited production timeframe, it appears in significantly lower proportions within imperial silver hoards than the voluminous regular issues struck between AD 119 and AD 138. Nevertheless, examples entered wide circulation across the western provinces and the Danubian frontier, mingling with both late Flavian and Trajanic silver. Hoards deposited in the mid to late second century, such as those buried during the Marcomannic Wars, occasionally yield worn specimens of this type, confirming that these coins remained active in circulation long after the initial political anxieties of Hadrian's accession had receded into history.

References

1. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum (BMCRE), Vol. III: Nerva to Hadrian. Hadrian 3
2. Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC II, Part 3 (second edition) Hadrian 3. ric.2_3(2).hdn.3
3. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Vol. II, Part 3: Hadrian. 3
4. Untersuchungen zur romischen Reichspragung des zweiten Jahrhunderts, Teil II: Die Reichspragung zur Zeit des Hadrian. 3