Denarius - Hadrian P M TR P COS III CONCORD, Concordia and Spes

Hadrian's early joint consulship issues reflect a deliberate propaganda campaign following Trajan's death in 117 AD and a succession that many in the Senate viewed with deep suspicion — four consulars were executed almost immediately, an event Hadrian attributed to Attianus but which damaged his standing regardless. The pairing of Concordia and Spes on a single reverse was not decorative whimsy; it was a pointed message about dynastic harmony and future expectation during a reign still working to establish its legitimacy.

RIC II.3 549 belongs to the comprehensive 2007 revision of the earlier Mattingly-Sydenham volume, which substantially reorganized Hadrianic coinage chronology.