Struck in 117 AD, the year Hadrian acceded following Trajan's death in Cilicia, this early issue carries the title PARTHICVS — a designation Hadrian quietly dropped within months. He had inherited Trajan's unfinished eastern wars and almost immediately began withdrawing Roman forces from the newly conquered Mesopotamian provinces, judging them indefensible. The title was a political liability, advertising a conquest he was abandoning.
The IVSTITIA reverse type belongs to a concentrated burst of virtue coinage from Hadrian's first year, likely intended to signal a principled, stable administration after the chaos surrounding the succession.
Struck in 117 AD, the year Hadrian acceded following Trajan's death in Cilicia, this early issue carries the title PARTHICVS — a designation Hadrian quietly dropped within months. He had inherited Trajan's unfinished eastern wars and almost immediately began withdrawing Roman forces from the newly conquered Mesopotamian provinces, judging them indefensible. The title was a political liability, advertising a conquest he was abandoning.
The IVSTITIA reverse type belongs to a concentrated burst of virtue coinage from Hadrian's first year, likely intended to signal a principled, stable administration after the chaos surrounding the succession.