Roman coin Dupondius Emperor Hadrian

Roman coin Dupondius Emperor Hadrian

Two Aes as one Dupondius for the Roman emperor Hadrian

The Dupondius was a Roman coin, which was worth two Aes. In the early republic it had a weight of two Roman pounds (655 grammes), but in the course of time it became easier to handle and shrank in the late republic to its later weight of less than 17 grammes.

Marcus Antonius provided the coins for the first time with a stamp, ordering a B to be minted on the back. This way they could be easier distinguished from the almost equally large Aes. In the early Imperial Era, the coin material was chosen as a distinguishing characteristic. While Quadrans and As were minted out of bronze with a high amount of copper, the versions of the Dupondii and Sestertii were made out of brass. After the Flavii (69 - 89 A.D.), the coins were provided with stamps again. From now on, the double As bore the head of the ruler under a crown of rays, or under a lunar crescent if the portrait was female.

The man depicted here is Publius Aelius Hadrianus, whose imperial name was Imperator Caesar Traianus Hadrianus Augustus. Hadrian was from 117 to 138 the fourteenth Roman emperor.

* 24 January 76 in Italica near modern Seville or in Rome; † 10 July 138 in Baiae.

Hadrian favoured stoic philosophy and is reckoned as the third of the Five Good Emperors. His esteem of Greek culture (philhellenism) is also to be viewed in connection with his philosophical orientation. He was related to his predecessor Trajan, in whose time Hadrian rose to high positions. In contrast to his predecessor, Hadrian waged no larger offensive wars, however, he vanquished a Jewish uprising in a war that took several years. Also he ordered large-scale fortifications of the imperial borders, among others, the Hadrian's Wall, which is named for him. He remained devoted to Greece!

Hadrian got soon near his relative and tutor Trajan. In 117 he was adopted by Trajan and succeeded him. Immediately he renounced Trajan's conquests in Mesopotamia, Armenia and Assyria and looked during his numerous trips after a comprehensive consolidation of the Imperium.
Peace and prosperity inside, and the protection of the borders (Hadrian's wall) outside, those were the concerns of the emperor whose manifold and aesthetic interests left observers disconcerted and astonished. Hadrian's love for founding or re-founding cities (Hadrianopolis, modern Edirne), and his vivid construction business, as exemplified by his mausoleum in Rome (Castel Sant'Angelo), the villa near Tivoli and Hadrian's quarter in Athens, expressed his cosmopolitan thinking which was driven by the ideals of hellenism.

His relationship with the Bithynian youth Antinous has become famous after Antinous' mysterious death in the Nile darkened Hadrian's final eight years - he let portraits of the dead set up in the whole empire. An uprising of the Jews (132-135), initiated by Simon bar-Kochba, was bloodily suppressed by Hadrian.

This is the copy of a Roman coin, honouring Publius Aelius Hadrianus.

• roman coin diameter: approx. 2.5 cm