Hadrian. AD 117-138. AR Denarius (18mm, 3.30 g, 12h). “Travel series” issue. Rome mint. Struck circa AD 134-138. HADRIANVS AVG COS III P P, laureate head right / AFRICA, Africa reclining left, leaning on rock, wearing elephant-skin headdress, holding scorpion and cornucopia; basket of fruit and grain ears to left. RIC II 299; RSC 138. Near EF, lightly toned. With a detailed portrait and an intriguing depiction of Africa.
Hadrian seems never to have felt fully comfortable in Rome and spent most of his 21-year reign traveling, eventually visiting every province of the Roman Empire. He honored the unique ethnicity and cultural identify of each place he visited, but also made sure the legions were maintained in a high state of readiness. A special issue of coins marked each Imperial visit, usually depicting a female personification of the province in a distinctive pose. Here, Africa is represented wearing a distinctive elephant-skin headdress (first depicted on coins of Ptolemy I four centuries before). She cradles a cornucopia, reflecting the province’s status as the Empire’s granary, and also holds a scorpion, perhaps representing the local fauna or an astrological allusion.
