Æ27 - Hadrian [ ] COR

Corinth by Hadrian's reign was a Roman colonia — refounded by Julius Caesar in 44 BC after a century of deliberate abandonment following its destruction by Mummius in 146 BC. Provincial bronze struck here under Hadrian reflects a city deeply invested in its Roman identity rather than its Greek past, a posture Hadrian himself complicated by his well-documented philhellenism and his personal visits to the Greek provinces. He passed through the Peloponnese during at least two of his eastern tours, and Corinth would have been an unavoidable stop on any such circuit.