Aureus - Hadrian P M TR P COS III GEN P R, Genius

Issued in Hadrian's third consulship, this aureus belongs to a concentrated burst of gold coinage from 119–120 CE that coincided with Hadrian's systematic reorganization of imperial administration following Trajan's death. The Genius type — invoking the protective spirit of the Roman people — appeared prominently as Hadrian worked to distance himself from Trajan's expansionist policies and reframe his rule around civic stability rather than conquest. The senatorial executions of 118 CE had left his legitimacy bruised, and this coinage was part of a broader ideological recalibration.

RIC II.3 #195 is among the types restruck in the 2007 revision of RIC II, which substantially reorganized Hadrianic gold and corrected earlier misattributions in Mattingly's original volume.