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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Curtis, post: 24646501, member: 26430&quot;]Almost every Roman ruler from Julius Caesar and Augustus through Leo and Zeno produced coins depicting captives – most often appearing with a trophy and/or Victory. As <a href="https://archive.org/details/ANSNumNotesVols121to126/page/n447/mode/1up" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://archive.org/details/ANSNumNotesVols121to126/page/n447/mode/1up" rel="nofollow">Levi (1952: 27)</a> put it: “There is hardly an emperor who does not have several coin types with small figures of barbarians.” (See also Kinnee [2016; contact me for PDF] &amp; <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/4135171" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/4135171" rel="nofollow">Bradlee [2004]</a>.)</p><p><br /></p><p>So, to a collector of “captives” coinage, it’s very notable that there are almost none for Hadrian. The Imperial coinage has virtually none. (Possibly on one AV Medallion.)</p><p><br /></p><p>There is one minor exception: <a href="https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/search/browse?q=captive+hadrian" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/search/browse?q=captive+hadrian" rel="nofollow">a few from Alexandria (as few as 13 specimens from 4 types)</a>. Of those, <a href="https://www.numisbids.com/n.php?search=hadrian+captive&amp;p=sale&amp;sid=6942" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.numisbids.com/n.php?search=hadrian+captive&amp;p=sale&amp;sid=6942" rel="nofollow">four specimens were in the ETB Collection</a> (AKA [USER=70512]@Okidoki[/USER] = Eric ten Brink) until the recent Leu Web Auction 26.</p><p><br /></p><p>I won one of them (previously from the Giovanni Dattari [1858-1923] Collection, 1775):</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1568906[/ATTACH]</p><p>As pictured in <a href="https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/3/5294" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/3/5294" rel="nofollow">RPC III (Online) 5294</a>.2:</p><p>[ATTACH]1568907[/ATTACH]</p><p>and Dattari:</p><p>[ATTACH]1568908[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>My type is clearly using the reverse from <a href="https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/3/4806.1" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/3/4806.1" rel="nofollow">Trajan’s Alexandrian AE Drachm of his RY 17 (113/4 CE)</a> [RPC III 4086 = Dattari 7100], 7 years earlier, and specifically depicting Armenian captives. (<a href="https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/search/browse?q=captive+Alexandria+Trajan" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/search/browse?q=captive+Alexandria+Trajan" rel="nofollow">Trajan had other types as well</a>.) We can see the identical Armenian tiara on Hadrian’s.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1568909[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Closeup of the two specimens from the ETB Collection (mine on right). Notice the two-pronged headwear/tiara:</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1568910[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><b>A FEW QUESTIONS:</b></p><p><br /></p><p><b>First</b>: <i>Is anyone aware of any other “captives” coins of Hadrian – Imperial or Provincial?</i></p><p><br /></p><p><b>Second</b>: <i>Why would he strike these coins, only in Alexandria, and only in Regnal Years 5 (120/1 CE) and 6 (121/2)?</i></p><p><br /></p><p><b><i>Historical Circumstances</i></b>: As I understand it, Hadrian was particularly un-warlike (save for the Bar Kochba Revolt / Third Jewish-Roman War, which came later, 132-135 CE), and abandoned Trajan’s policies of eastward expansion (which may have been unpopular). This general attitude (and his affinity for the Provincial world) is usually expressed in very peaceful imagery on coins.</p><p><br /></p><p>So, why this now?</p><p><br /></p><p>There had been a Jewish Rebellion, the Kitos War (sometimes “Second Roman-Jewish War”), toward the end of Trajan’s reign (115-117 CE), only finally suppressed at the start of Hadrian’s. The extensive rebuilding fell to Hadrian. The Kitos rebellion hit Africa and Egypt especially hard. Alexandria was abandoned by the Roman governor and the rebels destroyed the city.</p><p><br /></p><p>After putting down the rebellion (which stretched across the Mediterranean by the end), Jews were exiled, and the depopulated regions were repopulated by new settlers under Hadrian.</p><p><br /></p><p>If it had anything to do with the Kitos War, why depict Armenian captives?</p><p><br /></p><p>Perhaps this coinage – possibly also coinciding with Hadrian’s Quinquennalia? – was a message, during the repopulation and restoration of order in Alexandria, reminding Alexandrians that the emperor was willing and able to conquer their enemies? Perhaps in the context that Hadrian was seen as failing to vigorously pursue Roman expansion?</p><p><br /></p><p>Those are just guesses.</p><p><br /></p><p>But these weren’t just the usual Alexandrian “stock images,” and there are other atypical things about Hadrian’s Alexandrian captives coins (e.g., <a href="https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/3/5331" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/3/5331" rel="nofollow">the Tetradrachms have a reverse legend, NIKE CAESARI</a>, which is unusual for Alexandria). It may remain a mystery, but I’m sure there was some specific reason for it.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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