Description
Caesar Traianus Hadrianus, Roman Emperor of the Nerva-Antonine Dynasty 117-138 AD, Silver Denarius (3.38g, 18mm), Travelling Series – Personification type, ‘Germania’, Rome mint 136 AD. Obverse: Bare-headed and draped bust of Hadrian facing to the right, legend surrounds, “HADRIANVS AVG COS III PP”. Reverse: Germania stands to the left, head turned facing to the right, draped in stola and holding spear in right hand and resting left on grounded round shield, legend surrounds, “GERMANIA”. RIC-303c; RSC-804. A touch off centre as well as softly struck on the reverse, all devices on flan however and offering a nice steel grey patina, an attractive personification type from the highly desirable travelling series, near Very Fine.
Germānia was the name given to the area encompassing modern-day Luxembourg, parts of the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, and French Jura, as well as western Switzerland, and was first derived from Germānī + -ia, an exonym first applied to those living along the Rhine River in the works of Gaius Julius Caesar. Although Roman conquests into Germania began during Caesar’s Gallic Wars from 57 BC, the region would only formally be incorporated as Imperial provinces following the military campaigns during the reign of Emperor Domitian between 83 to 85 AD. The first, Prōvincia Germānia inferior, ‘Lower Germania’, spanned the northern portion of Germania and its capital city was Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium (modern-day Cologne), whilst the second was Prōvincia Germānia Superior, ‘Upper Germania’, which spanned the south as well as areas taken from Prōvincia Gallia Lugdūnēnsis, and was governed from the important military town of Mogontiacum (modern-day Mainz), its capital. After departing from Britannia, Hadrian passed through Germania and Gaul in 122 AD, stopping briefly at Nemausus before continuing onto Tarraco, the capital of Prōvincia Hispānia Tarracōnēnsis, where he spent the winter of 122-123 AD. The ‘GERMANIA’ and ‘RESTITVTORI GALLIAE’ issues could be considered Part I, ‘Britannia and the West’, of his travelling series.
The obverse Latin legend reads “Hadriānus Augustus, cōnsulāritās tertium, Pater Patriae”, with an English translation of “Hadrianus Augustus, honoured with the office of Consul for his third term, Father of the Nation”. The reverse Latin reads “Germānia”, naming Germania, the personification of the imperial province.
