Denarius - Salonia Matidia CONSECRATIO

Matidia the Elder — niece of Trajan and mother-in-law of Hadrian — died in late 119 AD, and Hadrian responded with conspicuous public mourning: he delivered her funeral oration personally and pushed through her consecration by the Senate. This coin is a direct product of that political gesture. Hadrian's deification of Matidia served to reinforce his own dynastic legitimacy at a moment when his succession from Trajan remained quietly contested.

RIC II 751 is a reasonably scarce type within the consecration series for Matidia.