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Æ21 - Hadrian ΑΡΓΕΙωΝ
| Issuer | Argos (Achaea) |
|---|---|
| Year | 117-138 |
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| Composition | Bronze |
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| Obverse description | Laureate bust of the emperor Hadrian facing right, draped with paludamentum over the left shoulder. The portrait exhibits the characteristic curled beard and hair of Hadrian rendered in the provincial Greek style. The surrounding field carries the Greek legend ΑΥΤ ΑΔΡΙΑΝΟϹ ΚΤΙϹΤΗϹ, identifying the emperor as founder, distributed around the bust. |
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| Reverse description | Full-length figure of Isis standing facing, head turned to the left, rendered in a hieratic frontal pose. The goddess raises her right hand holding a sistrum, while her left hand carries a situla (bucket-shaped vessel). Her attire and attributes are typical of the Hellenized Isis cult widespread in Roman-era Greece. The ethnic legend ΑΡΓΕΙΩΝ appears in the field, identifying the issuing city of Argos. |
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Argos was among the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Greece, and by Hadrian's reign it had long since settled into the administrative rhythms of the Roman province of Achaea. Hadrian himself visited the Peloponnese and took an active interest in Greek civic life — his philhellenism was policy as much as personal taste, and cities like Argos benefited from imperial attention that translated into renewed civic pride and, in some cases, local bronze issues of exactly this type.
The reference III#382 places this within a well-documented series, though Argive bronzes from the Hadrianic period remain underrepresented in major collections relative to their Athenian contemporaries.