Aureus - Hadrian COS III, Rome

The COS III designation dates this aureus to Hadrian's third consulship, held from 119 AD, though he continued using the title on coinage well into the late 120s without holding the office again — a deliberate projection of constitutional legitimacy during a reign defined more by administrative reform and personal travel than by traditional Roman military ambition. Hadrian's famous renunciation of Trajan's eastern conquests, announced almost immediately upon his accession in 117, made coinage projecting civic and senatorial credentials especially pointed.

Rome's output of aurei under Hadrian was prolific enough that die studies have identified substantial variation across this COS III group.