Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Trebellianus, post: 3145550, member: 91569&quot;]And another! This dates from the first couple months of Hadrian&#039;s reign: his very first issues (evidently put out without his full oversight -- him having more pressing matters then to attend to) bore a long, rotund titulature carried directly over from Trajan&#039;s coinage. This was clearly not to Hadrian&#039;s taste, and was soon replaced with something less pretentious. </p><p><br /></p><p><i>[ATTACH=full]804809[/ATTACH] </i></p><p><font size="3"><b>Hadrian</b>, 117AD: O: draped, cuirassed, laureate bust right, IMP CAES TRAIAN [HADRI]AN OPT AVG GER DAC / R: Pietas, veiled, standing left, raising right hand, [PART]HIC DIVI TRAIAN AVG F P M TR P COS P P. Seller&#039;s photo.</font></p><p><br /></p><p>Quoth Mattingly: <i>&quot;It is therefore likely enough that </i>[this issue]<i> was issued under the orders not of Hadrian but of his representatives in Rome, acting perhaps on some slight hint of the Emperor&#039;s wishes...&quot;</i></p><p><br /></p><p>And in the Emperor&#039;s own words (as imagined by Marguerite Yourcenar): <i>&quot;I had refused all titles. In the first month of my reign the Senate had adorned me, before I could know of it, with that long series of honorary appellations which is draped like a fringed shawl round the necks of certain emperors. Dacicus, Parthicus, Germanicus: Trajan had loved these brave blasts of martial music, like the cymbals and drums of the Parthian regiments; what had roused echoes and responses in him only irritated or bewildered me. I got rid of all that, and also postponed, for the time, that admirable title of Father of the Country; Augustus accepted that honor only late in life, and I esteemed myself not yet worthy.&quot;</i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p>Interesting portraiture: the weirdly long neck arising out of a military uniform calls to mind all those Probuses of the following century. I detect a similarity in style between this and the portrait in my avatar, if that isn&#039;t too fanciful. The reverse speaks to Hadrian&#039;s respect for his adoptive father, no doubt.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in