MYSIA. Pionia. Hadrian (AD 117-138). AE (17mm, 2.04 gm, 1h). NGC VF 4/5 - 3/5, smoothing.

MYSIA. Pionia. Hadrian (AD 117-138). AE (17mm, 2.04 gm, 1h). NGC VF 4/5 - 3/5, smoothing. ΑΥΤΟ ΤΡΑΙ-ΑΝΟΝ ΑΔΡΙΑΝΟ-Ν, laureate head of Hadrian right / ΕΠΙ ΝΙΚΟ-ΠΙΟΝΙΤΩΝ, Heracles standing facing, resting on club with right hand, holding lion skin in left. RPC III 1663.

Publius Aelius Hadrianus was born in AD 76, the son of a distinguished Spanish senator and related through his mother to the future Emperor Trajan, who took him into his household when Hadrian was nine years old. After Trajan's accession, Hadrian held a series of civilian posts, including a consulship in AD 108, and commanded legions during the Dacian and Parthian wars. Hadrian was not formally adopted until Trajan lay on his deathbed in August, AD 117; after succeeding to the throne, Hadrian abandoned many of Trajan's over-ambitious conquests and engaged in a policy of peace abroad and reform at home. He spent most of his 21-year reign traveling, visiting every province of the Roman Empire. Under his patronage, Roman art and sculpture reached its creative peak. Hadrian came to see himself as a "second Augustus," providing the empire with a new foundation as a vast commonwealth of nations under Rome's guiding hand.