Denarius - Hadrian COS III or COS III

The COS III designation on Hadrian's denarii dates the issue to his third consulship, held perpetually from 119 AD onward as an honorific rather than an active administrative role. These pieces fall within the middle period of his reign, coinciding with his second great tour of the provinces — a journey that took him through North Africa, Greece, and the East between 128 and 132. Hadrian's near-constant absence from Rome during these years meant the mint operated under tight imperial instruction delivered at considerable geographic remove.

RIC II.3 #3092 reflects the substantial re-cataloguing of Hadrianic coinage undertaken in the revised second edition, which reorganized hundreds of previously misattributed types.