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Sestertius - Hadrian FELICITATI AVG COS III P P S C
| Issuer | Roman Empire (27 BC - 395 AD) |
|---|---|
| Year | 129-130 |
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| Shape | Round (irregular) |
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|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
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| Reverse description | A Roman war galley (navis longa) depicted in profile sailing to the right, with a prominent acrostolium at the prow, a bank of oars along the hull rendered in fine diagonal engraving, and a steering oar (gubernaculum) visible at the stern. Figures of rowers or soldiers are discernible on the deck, conveying the maritime power and felicitas of the imperial fleet. The legend FELICITATI AVG is distributed around the upper field, with COS III P P inscribed in the lower exergual area, and S C flanking the vessel at either side, all within a beaded border. This reverse type, celebrating the felicitas (good fortune) of the emperor through naval imagery, is associated with Hadrian's extensive travels and engagement with the provinces. |
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| Additional information |
The FELICITAS type sestertii of Hadrian cluster tightly around 129–130, coinciding with his return to Rome after nearly a decade of continuous provincial travel — the longest sustained tour of the empire undertaken by any sitting emperor. The issue reads less as propaganda than as a formal accounting: Hadrian presenting felicitas not as aspiration but as accomplished fact, the journeys done, the frontiers inspected.
RIC II.3 1317 reflects the substantial revision of Hadrian's bronze coinage carried out in the 2003 and subsequent scholarship, which redistributed dozens of previously misattributed types across a more precise chronological framework.