The Military Reforms Under Hadrian
DISCIPLINA AVG

CNG 105, Lot: 894. Estimate $1000. Sold for $2300. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Hadrian. AD 117-138. Æ Sestertius (32mm, 26.82 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck circa AD 134-138. Laureate and draped bust right / Hadrian, holding volumen, advancing right, followed by officer and three soldiers each carrying a signa; DISCIPLINA AVG in exergue. RIC II 746; Banti 242. VF, brown and green patina, minor smoothing and strengthening of details on reverse. A well-struck example of this scarce type.

From the Collection of a Director.

The discussion of this type in RIC (p. 327) notes that this reverse type "celebrates the military reforms of the emperor", without defining what specific event triggered the commemoration on this sestertius. It is most likely related to the conclusion of the last great military campaign of Hadrian's reign, the Bar Kochba revolt in Judaea (AD 132-135). As an internal revolt, not an operation against foreign foes, the war did not warrant a coinage explicitly commemorating its end, but this coin would indirectly mark its conclusion, praising the legions for their steadfastness while stressing the reordering of the armies for peacetime and the standing down from a war footing.