Hadrian visited Corinth at least twice — once during his first eastern tour around 124–125 AD and again circa 128–129 — and the city, refounded as a Roman colony by Julius Caesar in 44 BC, responded with a sustained series of civic bronzes honoring the emperor. The colonial title COL L IVL COR encoded that Caesarian origin directly into the coin's legend, a point of civic identity Corinthians seem to have been unwilling to let lapse even under a philhellenic emperor who lavished attention on Athens instead.
Hadrian visited Corinth at least twice — once during his first eastern tour around 124–125 AD and again circa 128–129 — and the city, refounded as a Roman colony by Julius Caesar in 44 BC, responded with a sustained series of civic bronzes honoring the emperor. The colonial title COL L IVL COR encoded that Caesarian origin directly into the coin's legend, a point of civic identity Corinthians seem to have been unwilling to let lapse even under a philhellenic emperor who lavished attention on Athens instead.