Alexandria Welcomes Hadrian

287, Lot: 343. Estimate $100. Sold for $95. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

EGYPT, Alexandria. Hadrian. AD 117-138. Æ Drachm (34mm, 21.40 g, 12h). Dated RY 15 (AD 130/1). Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / Hadrian standing left, holding scepter, greeted by Alexandria, clad in elephant skin headdress, chiton, and peplos, holding two grain ears and kissing Hadrian’s extended hand; [L] IE (date) below. Köln 1034; Dattari (Savio) 1610; K&G 32.509; Emmett 964. Near Fine, red and tan patina, areas of green.

From the Greenpoint Collection.

Struck to commemorate the emperor’s visit to Alexandria in AD 130. It was during this visit that Hadrian’s favorite, the Bithynian youth Antinous, drowned in the Nile.