A challenging travel series coin of Hadrian

Strack p. 138 recognized the crocodile under Hadrian's foot but thought the type couldn't belong to the travel series for numismatic reasons (die axis and bust types).

However Abdy in his new RIC, p. 43, pointed out an obv. die link on sestertii between the anepigraphic Hadrian standing type (pl. 121, 1451) and an anepigraphic Nilus reclining type (pl. 122, 1462), which is regularly assigned to the travel series. So it seems we should regard that emperor standing type too as belonging to the travel series.

 

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Hi @Salaethus,

That looks like a rabbit. Those ears are mighty long for a crocodile, and the bend of the legs looks more mammal than reptile to me. Rabbits are associated with Hispania.

- Broucheion

 

I don't know if the galley-type may be considered part of Hadrian's travel-series.
Of course the emperor did travel by sea, at least when crossing straights like the Channel, the Bosphorus, etc. But these galley reverses must be taken in a more general way. Sailing was extremely dangerous at this time, even on the imperial galley, and it is likely that every time the emperor had to entrust his life (and the whole empire's government) to a ship, some sort of official prayers or rites did take place.
The extreme risk that sailing represented was a commonplace. Diogenes Laertius writes that the Scythian philosopher Anacharsis, when aboard a ship, asked what was the hull's thickness. A sailor replied: "Four fingers". Anacharsis said :"Thus we are just four fingers from death". Another quote: somebody asked Anacharsis: Who are more numerous, the living or the dead? he replied :"In what category do you put those who navigate?" It is the origin of the apocryphal quote often attributed to Plato or Aristotle : "There are three kinds of people, the living, the dead and those who are at sea". For the ancients, people travelling by sea were the equivalent or our modern Schroedinger's cat: you couldn't tell if they were alive or dead until the ship had returned safely.
To travel by sea you needed two things: good ship and good luck, in Latin Felicitas. This is probably why the image of a galley appears as the graphic transcription of Felicitas. Hadrian's galley coins all have the legend FELICITATI AVGVSTI (more or less abbreviated) : "to the Good Luck of the Emperor". On later emperors' coins we find this association galley / felicitas: on Marcus Aurelius' asses dated tr.p. XXXI (176/7) with the legend FELICITATI AVG; on Elagabalus' denarii minted in Antioch with the legend FELICITAS TEMP(orum); even on mid-4th c. Fel. Temp. Reparatio series, one of the reverse types shows the emperor standing on the deck of a galley.

 

But the reverse legend on the one I posted above is COS III not FELICITATI AVGVSTI:


Hadrian Æ As
(125-127 A.D.)
Rome Mint
HADRIANVS AVGVSTVS, laureate bust right, slight drapery on shoulder / COS III above galley with four rowers right, [S C] in exergue.
RIC II.3 820 (RIC 673c/d) var.
(drapery on shoulder; see note).
(10.33 grams / 25 x 23 mm)
eBay Sept. 2021

Also, it seems the new RIC assigns these galley types to Hadrian's travels:

"Hadrian has still spent the first half of 125 travelling (voyaging to Rome from Greece via Sicily) and the aes coinage for this group does have some travel types in the form of Neptune sestertii both with and without the legend NEP RED showing the sea-gods (sic) role as homebringer of the Emperor. The later phase of Neptune sestertii are devoid of descriptive legend and die-link with the forum/Adventus scene. There is also a galley type as to continue with the nautical theme. It is concurrent with a Minerva as (Hadrian was returning home having been wise in his dealings with his Parthian advisaries)..."
(Richard Abdy, Peter Mittag, Roman Imperial Coinage, Volume II, Part 3, p. 17)

So it seems that one could assign both the Neptune and Minerva types to Hadrian's voyages (although silver is not mentioned, for reasons I do not understand). Here is a Neptune denarius - travel series?


Hadrian Denarius
(125-127 A.D.)
Rome Mint
HADRIANVS AVGVSTVS, laureate bust right, drapery on far shoulder / COS III, Neptune standing left, cloak over right thigh, foot on prow, holding trident & acrostolium.
RIC II, 3 793 (old RIC 159).
(3.08 grams / 18 mm)
eBay Jan. 2015

The introduction to the new RIC Hadrian book is available on a Google book search (not the whole book, just the very informative introduction):

https://books.google.com/books?id=D...hVIvZ4KHTS4BCAQ6AF6BAgHEAI#v=onepage&q&f=true

The chart on page 19 about FELICITAS AVGVSTI types reads: "Nautical/Homebringer theme for British journey?"

Note the question mark; I suppose we'll never know for sure. The galleys may indeed be a more general, not specifically a "travel" type. As for Neptune or Minerva, well, I'll leave it to the experts.

 

Hadrian's "travel series" usually refers to a particular large issue, all with obverse legend HADRIANVS AVG COS III P P, and with four main sorts of reverse type:

Naming and showing some of the provinces Hadrian visited, e.g. HISPANIA

Naming provincial armies, e.g. EXERCITVS SYRIACVS, and showing Hadrian on a platform or on horseback, addressing the troops

Commemorating Hadrian's arrival in the provinces, with legend like ADVENTVI AVG GALLIAE

Commemorating Hadrian's restoration of the provinces, with legend like RESTITVTORI GALLIAE

A fair number of other types also commemorate Hadrian's travels, but do not belong to this particular large issue that celebrates all of the journeys he had undertaken during his reign.

 

I tend to agree with you. The only problem with your interpretation that I see is that the animal's body is awfully long for a rabbit! But the ears are certainly distinctive, and look very much like the ears on the rabbit depicted on the Hadrian Travel Series coin depicting the personification of Hispania. (That rabbit, on most examples, is so tiny that it's recognizable in only a minority of cases. But when it is, it's the ears that are the most obvious sign of the rabbit's identity.)

 

But it's not a rabbit ! Which Roman emperor would like to be depicted savagely tramping on a cute little bunny?



It's a croc, of course. What looks like rabbit ears are in fact crocodile jaws: the croc is raising his head and looking up to the ruffian tramping on him... Let's have a look to a very well preserved specimen (not mine):

 

Hi @GinoLR,

I agree that on a well preserved specimen it surely is a crocodile. I appreciate your pointing out that what I saw as ears are actually jaws.



- Broucheion

 

Here's a new one, arrival to Macedonia



As
Adventus Mcedoniae
RIC II.3 1781

 

I have a few, but these are the two I have pictures of:

HADRIAN. 117-138 AD. Æ Sestertius (23.90 gm). Struck circa 134-138 AD. Laureate and draped bust right / EXERC SYRIACVS in exergue, Hadrian on horseback right, extending hand to three soldiers standing left before, who hold standards. RIC II 932; BMCRE 1687; Cohen 569 var. (bare-headed bust).
From the Tony Hardy Collection.
ex CNG 2004.





Sestertius, RESTITUTORI ORBIS TERRARUM

 

I've recently added a comparably rare coin of which I can only find a handful of examples, and notable absences from some important collections. It's arguably my nicest portrait of Hadrian and while it has a few marks, I haven't been able to find a nicer one:



Hadrian; 117-138 AD, Rome, c. 130-3 AD, Aureus, 7.26g. RIC-1554 (R), pl. 34 (same dies); Calicó-1170 (same dies); BMC-786 note (citing Vienna); bust var. of C-8 (150 Fr.). Obv: HADRIANVS - AVG COS III P P Bare-headed, draped bust l. Rx: ADVENTVI - AVG - AFRICAE Hadrian raising r. hand in greeting stands r. before tripod altar at which Africa sacrifices from patera, she wears drapery to feet and an elephant-skin headdress and also holds two wheat stalks in l. arm, a sacrificial bull emerges from behind her and falls towards altar.

Ex: Michael F Price Collection, Stacks Dec 3rd, 1996, lot 175; Stacks Fixed Price List, 1990, Lot 25

 

What a lovely coin! I wonder how much Stack's charged for it back in 1990.

 

It was in their list for $8750 which is almost exactly what I paid last week when adjusted for inflation.

 

That's a fabulous travel series coin! If my inflation table is correct from 1980, you also got more than a good bargain too!

 

Ar Denarius of Hadrian Rome 136 AD Obv Head left bare. Rv Africa reclining left holding scorpion over basket of grain ears. RIC II/3 1497 RIC 299 3.40 grms 19 mm Photo by W. Hansen

The "Travel" series of Hadrian is one of my favorite groups of coins. I am particularly fond of this denarius with its depiction of Africa holding a scorpion and advertising its principal contribution to the Empire, its supply of grain.

 

Just be very careful! If this is coming into the US make sure the packaging doesn't mention "Egypt" or "coin" or "ancient". I am hearing more complaints that those are not making their way thru Customs without big hassles!

 

I bought my 5th Hadrian Travel series denarius today (6th if you count the galley reverse coin that I posted not that long ago in another thread).

I don't see this type very often, and I think it will fit in well with my examples of the Aegyptos and Africa denarii from the same series (posted earlier in this thread), as well as with all the Roman Egyptian coins I like so much:

Hadrian AR Denarius, Travel Series, Rome Mint, 130-133 AD (according to RIC II.3) [134-138 AD according to Mattingly & Sydenham in old RIC II]. Obv. Bareheaded and draped bust right, viewed from back or side, HADRIANVS - AVG COS III PP / Rev. Alexandria, draped, standing left, holding sistrum in extended right hand and basket in left hand with snake emerging from it, ALEX-AN-DRIA. RIC II.3 1504 & Pl. 31, old RIC II 300, RSC II 156, BMCRE III Hadrian 826, Foss 94a, Sear RCV II 3460 (obv. var.). Purchased from Dix Noonan Webb Auction 253, 13 March 2022, Lot 1408; ex B.A. Seaby Ltd. London, retail purchase 1990.



Does anyone have any ideas about what the round object seemingly hovering directly beneath the snake's basket is supposed to represent? Judging from the examples on acsearch, it's present on most of these (including the one posted by
@Limes in this thread), but nobody seems to mention it in their
description. Could it be the bottom of the snake, perhaps?

 

Not sure this is technically a "travel series" issue, but it does feature a Province, and a mountain:


Hadrian Æ As/Dupondius
(130-133 A.D.)
Rome Mint
HADRIANVS AVG CO[S III P P], bare-headed, draped bust right / CAPPADOCIA S C, Cappadocia, turreted, standing left, holding Mount Argaeus and vexillum
RIC II.3 1645 (old RIC II 848c).
(9.86 grams / 27 x 26 mm)
eBay Feb. 2022

 

Thanks, @romismatist. I also bid on the Hispania example from the series that was up for sale today, but lost by one increment.