Gold Aureus of Hadrian, 7.09 g.

Gold Aureus of Hadrian, 7.09 g.

Hadrian

117-118 CE

Obverse: Draped and diademed bust of Plotina facing right; PLOTINAE AVG(VSTAE): To Plotina Augusta.

Reverse: Draped, cuirassed, and laureate head of Divine Trajan facing right; DIVO TRAIANO PARTH(ICO) AVG(VSTO) PATRI: To Divine Trajan, conqueror of the Parthians, Augustus, Father.

Style/Period: Roman Empire

Pompeia Plotina, the greatly respected wife of Trajan, was a woman of modesty and dignity. When first offered the title Augusta she refused it, accepting it only in 105 CE. Plotina accompanied her husband on his last campaign in the East, and when he died on the return she was rumored to have been responsible for the adoption of her favorite, Hadrian, as Trajan's heir. She died in 121 CE and was deified by Hadrian.
Both Trajan and Hadrian put portraits of Plotina on their coins, Hadrian at the time of his accession and the deification of Trajan in 117-118 CE. The prominence of his adopted parents in his earliest coinage suggests a concern with the new emperor's relationship to them and with the legitimacy of his succession.
The portrait of Plotina on the obverse of this coin depicts an austere-looking woman of middle age, with a lined forehead, sagging chin and one of the complex, baroque hairstyles popular among court women at this time. She wears a ribbon on her forehead, behind which a high wave of hair is held in place by her diadem. Behind that her hair is plaited in strands that fall down her back and are then doubled up and held in a knot at the nape of her neck.
-- Kelly Swett Riordan, LU '93

Bibliography: H. Mattingly and E.A. Sydenham, The Roman Imperial Coinage II: Vespasian to Hadrian (London 1926) 29.

Former collection of Ottilia Buerger. Bought from Abner Kreisberg Jan. 18, 1961.

91.161

Wriston Art Center Galleries, Lawrence University, Appleton, WI,wriston-gallery@lawrence.edu,920-832-6890

Roman, Empire, Plotina, cuirass, Divine Trajan, Hadrian