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AR26 - Hadrian COM - BIT (in field), ROM S P AVG (in entablature)
| Issuer | Koinon of Bithynia (Bithynia and Pontus) |
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| Year | 117-138 |
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| Composition | Silver |
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| Obverse description | Laureate and draped bust of Emperor Hadrian facing right, seen from the rear, with drapery visible over the left shoulder. The effigy presents a mature, idealized portrait with characteristic curled hair and short beard rendered in fine relief. The encircling obverse legend reads IMP CAES TRA HADRIANO AVG P P in Latin capitals, distributed around the periphery of the flan. |
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| Reverse description | A tetrastyle temple set upon a podium of three steps, depicted in frontal elevation with four columns supporting an entablature bearing the inscription ROM S P AVG; within the pediment a shield is displayed. Within the cella stands a male figure in military dress, facing right, holding a spear in the right hand and a wreath in the left. The legend COM - BIT appears in the field to either side of the temple, identifying this as a provincial issue of the Koinon of Bithynia honoring Rome and the imperial cult. |
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The Koinon of Bithynia was the provincial assembly responsible for organizing the imperial cult in that region, and its coinage served the festival and ceremonial needs of that cult rather than ordinary commerce. This piece belongs to a series issued under Hadrian's active patronage of the Greek East — he visited Bithynia at least twice, and the province held particular personal significance after the drowning of Antinous in the Nile in 130 AD, whose cult Hadrian promoted aggressively across the eastern provinces.
The COM BIT abbreviation denotes the Commonium Bithyniae, the koinon itself acting as issuing authority.