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Denarius - Hadrian P M TR P COS III, Spes
| Issuer | Roman Imperial Mint |
|---|---|
| Year | 121-123 |
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| Composition | Silver |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The personification of Spes (Hope) advancing left in a graceful stride, rendered as a draped female figure in long robes. She raises a flower or blossom aloft in her extended right hand, while her left hand gathers and lifts the hem of her garment, a canonical iconographic formula for Spes in Roman coinage. The figure is rendered in fine relief against an unadorned field, with the abbreviated Latin legend distributed to either side. The composition reflects the optimistic political messaging of Hadrian's early reign. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | P M TR P COS III (Translation: Pontifex Maximus, Tribunicia Potestate, Consul Tertium. High priest, holder of tribunician power, consul for the third time.) |
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| Additional information |
Hadrian's early coinage as sole emperor reflects a deliberate effort to stabilize the image of imperial authority after the turbulent final years of Trajan's reign and the contested circumstances of his own succession — which the Senate nearly refused to ratify. The COS III designation places this issue firmly in the 119–128 window, before Hadrian assumed his fourth consulship, and the Spes type belongs to a broader programmatic series projecting optimism about the new reign.
RIC II.3 601 is well-documented with no significant die anomalies flagged in the current corpus.