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Sestertius - Hadrian ADVENTVI AVG BITHYNIAE S C, Bithynia
| Issuer | Roman Imperial Mint |
|---|---|
| Year | 130-133 |
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| Value | 1 Sestertius = 1/4 Denarius |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
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| Reverse description | Standing figure of Hadrian to the right, his right hand raised in salutation and his left hand holding a scroll, facing the personification of Bithynia standing to the left. Bithynia is depicted turreted or bareheaded, holding either a rudder or an acrostolium, and extends a patera toward the emperor in a gesture of welcome. Between the two figures stands an altar, typically with a bull at its base, symbolising the adventus sacrificial rite performed upon the emperor's arrival in the province. |
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| Additional information |
The ADVENTVS series to which this piece belongs was struck to commemorate Hadrian's extraordinary tour of the empire's provinces — a journey lasting roughly a decade and unprecedented for a reigning emperor. Bithynia, on the southern shore of the Black Sea, was visited around 123 AD and again possibly later; the coins celebrating individual provinces were likely struck in Rome between 130 and 133, years after the visits themselves, functioning more as retrospective monuments than contemporaneous records.
Hadrian's connection to Bithynia carried personal weight: Antinous, his companion, drowned in the Nile in 130 AD and was almost certainly Bithynian by birth.