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117-138 AD - HADRIAN AR denarius - struck 118 AD
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obv: IMP CAESAR TRAIAN HADRIANVS AVG (laureate bust right, cuirassed, draped far shoulder)
rev: P M TR P COS II (Justice is seated on the curule chair, as on a tribunal: with the insignia of the hasta pura and the extended patera she displays her care for religion), IVSTITIA in ex.
ref: RIC II 42, RSC 877
mint: Rome
3.25gms, 19mm
Rare cuirassed bust, RIC not describes (c - not in RIC). Unfortunately the reverse is burned, but still valuable.
The reverse perhaps refer to the edictum perpetuum or Pretorian edict, what was an annual declaration made by the praetor urbanus in which he laid out the principles by which he would exercise his jurisdiction for his year in office. Under Hadrian, the edict became fixed and unchangeable.
And there's an other fact that can refer this reverse. When Hadrian arrived in Rome in July 118 to a hostile reception on the part of the senate, because of the death of the four consulars. The four men were Cornelius Palma, governor of Syria, Avidius Nigrinus, governor of Dacia, Publilius Celsus and Lusius Quietus, governor of Judaea, they were all Trajan's men, and their elimination certainly made Hadrian's course easier. But an Emperor had right everytime, and he was the justice.
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