AR28 - Hadrian COS - III

The Koinon of Bithynia issued provincial coinage not as routine currency but as a deliberate act of regional politics — strikes tied to imperial cult festivals, governor visits, or moments when a province needed to signal loyalty. Hadrian received particular attention from Bithynia: he visited the region in 123–124 AD, and the grief he publicly expressed over the drowning of his favorite Antinous in the Nile in 130 AD — Antinous was himself Bithynian, from Claudiopolis — gave the province an unusual personal claim on the emperor's sentiment.

The COS III designation dates this issue no earlier than 119 AD, when Hadrian entered his third consulship.