Choice Hadrian Aureus
Hadrian. AD 117-138. AV Aureus (18mm, 7.17 g, 7h). Rome mint. Struck AD 134-138. HADRIANVS AVG COS III P P, draped bust right / ROMA AETERNA, Roma seated left on curule chair, holding crowning Victory and scepter. RIC II 263A; Calicó 1357 (same dies as coin illustrated). EF, a few small reverse marks.
According to Vaillant, it was under Hadrian that Rome became known as aeterna (eternal), on account of the many restorations and constructions which he enacted. He even oversaw the building of a temple in honor of Rome herself on the Palatine---a symbol of the city’s prominence in its expanding empire.
