Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
Dupondius or As - Hadrian RESTITVTORI AFRICAE S C, Africa
| Issuer | Roman Imperial Mint |
|---|---|
| Year | 130-133 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Hammered |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Hadrian standing left in military dress, extending his right hand to raise the kneeling personification of Africa, who wears the characteristic elephant-scalp headdress and holds corn ears in her hand; between the two figures, a stalk of corn grows from the ground, symbolising the province's agricultural fertility. The composition follows the well-established 'Restitutori' type used across Hadrian's provincial series, commemorating his visit to Africa circa 128 AD. The senatorial authorisation mark S C appears in the field, flanking the central group. The legend RESTITVTORI AFRICAE arcs across the reverse, identifying the scene as a celebration of Hadrian's role as restorer of the province. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | RESTITVTORI AFRICAE S C (Translation: To the restorer of Africa. Decree of the senate.) |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
The "Restitutori" series issued under Hadrian commemorates his extensive provincial tours — the most sustained program of imperial travel undertaken by any Roman emperor. His visit to Africa, likely around 128 AD, included a famous address to the troops of Legio III Augusta at Lambaesis, a speech partially preserved in an inscription and remarkable for its granular, firsthand criticism of individual military exercises. The "restorer" coinage followed this tour as a deliberate political statement about his hands-on administration of the provinces.
RIC II.3 1821 is among the rarer African restitution types within the series.