Denarius - Hadrian PIETATI AVG COS III P P, Pietas

Hadrian's extended tour of the eastern provinces in 128–130 AD generated an enormous outpouring of religious coinage, much of it tied to his personal interest in Greek cult practice and his efforts to present himself as a pious unifier of an empire spanning radically different religious traditions. The PIETATI AVG series belongs to this moment — not to abstract imperial virtue-signaling, but to a specific political project of religious legitimation following his initiation into the Eleusinian Mysteries in 128 AD.

RIC II.3 1113 is one of several Pietas types struck in close sequence; distinguishing between them depends largely on reverse die pairing, a task complicated by the sheer volume of denarii produced during Hadrian's unusually long and well-documented reign.