The Travel Series Coinage of Hadrian By Wayne Kimber
(Editor’s Note: Triton XXIII, held in New York City, January 14-15, 2020, featured an extensive offering of Hadrianic coinage, including 15 coins related to Hadrian’s famous travels. Wayne Kimber, a dedicated collector of Hadrian’s coinage, consented to write an article on the travel series for CNG’s Classical Numismatic Review. We thank him for his excellent and concise review of this fascinating series.)
TRITON XXIII LOT 733 (Hispania) Publius Aelius Hadrianus Augustus, popularly known as Hadrian, was born on 24 January AD 76, either in Rome or his ancestral hometown of Italica in Spain. Regardless of his birthplace, his family roots ensured he would always be considered a Spaniard. Hadrian ruled from 10 August 117 to 10 July 138 and was the third of the Roman Empire’s ‘Five Good Emperors,’ after Nerva and Trajan (another Spaniard). Except for flare-ups at the beginning and end of his reign, Hadrian presided over a largely peaceful, prosperous empire. He is widely known for his building projects, such as the well-preserved Pantheon in Rome, his beautiful villa in Tivoli, and Hadrian’s Wall in the north of England. He is perhaps even more famous for his extensive travels around the Roman Empire, which are documented in a series of coins now called the “Travel Series.”
TRITON XXIII LOT 723 (Trajan / Divus Trajan) Hadrian traveled widely as a private citizen and imperial officer, and was serving as governor of Syria when the dying Trajan adopted him as his successor in AD 117. He undertook a roundabout route back to Rome that took him through several endangered provinces on the Rhine-Danube frontier before finally arriving at the capital the following year. He did not remain there long. While emperor, Hadrian undertook two further great journeys. The first, AD 121-125, covered Gaul, the Rhine frontiers, Germany, Britain, Spain, Mauretania, Asia Minor, Greece and the Danube. The second, AD 128-132, covered Africa, Greece, Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt and Cyrene. As emperor, the only province Hadrian looks certain not to have visited is Lusitania (modern Portugal). However, his upbringing in Spain makes it plausible that he at least passed through this province during his youth. The new Roman Imperial Coins (RIC) Vol 2.3 places the minting of the main part of the Travel Series during 130-133 AD, toward the end of the second journey. The Travel Series is popular chiefly because the coins provide the collector with a direct link to the idea of traveling around the Roman Empire, accompanying Hadrian on his journeys. They also provoke thoughts as to the motivation for Hadrian’s wanderlust. Was it to improve conditions in the provinces as the coins imply, or to escape Rome and the hostility of the Senate, or to satisfy his intellectual curiosity, or all of the above? Or did something else drive him to visit nearly every province of the vast Roman Empire? 4