Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
Aureus - Hadrian Nilus
| Issuer | Roman Empire (27 BC - 395 AD) |
|---|---|
| Year | 130 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Denarius, Reform of Augustus (27 BC – AD 215) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The river god Nilus reclines to the right, his semi-nude figure rendered with classical naturalism, holding a tall reed in his right hand and a overflowing cornucopia in his left arm. The god rests upon a rocky bank above the waters of the Nile, beneath which a crocodile and a hippopotamus are depicted amid reeds, symbolising the exotic fauna and fertility of Egypt. The composition is characteristic of the series of provincial personification reverses struck during Hadrian's travels, and the field is plain without an exergual line or inscription. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | ND (130) |
| Additional information |
This issue belongs to a remarkable series struck following Hadrian's extended tour of Egypt in 130 AD — the same journey during which his favorite Antinous drowned in the Nile under circumstances that were never satisfactorily explained. The Egyptian visit prompted an unusual burst of provincial-themed coinage from the imperial mint, reflecting Hadrian's deliberate policy of celebrating the empire's regions rather than projecting Rome's dominance over them.
Calicó 1162 places this among the scarcer types of the Egyptian allegory group. Relatively few die marriages are known.