Æ20 - Hadrian COL LAV IVL COR

Corinth's colonial coinage under Hadrian reflects the emperor's unusually close relationship with Greece — he visited the province multiple times and was initiated into the Eleusinian Mysteries, making him one of the few emperors to engage seriously with Greek religious life rather than merely patronize it politically. The full colonial title abbreviated on this piece, Colonia Laus Iulia Corinthiensis, dates to Julius Caesar's refoundation of the city in 44 BC, nearly a century after Lucius Mummius had razed it to rubble in 146 BC.