RPC III, 6142

 

Image of specimen #3

 

Coin type
Volume III
Number 6142
Province Egypt
Region Egypt
City Alexandria
Reign Hadrian
Person (obv.) Hadrian (Augustus)
Issue L KA = year 21
Dating AD 136/7
Obverse inscription ΑΥΤ ΚΑΙϹ ΤΡΑΙΑΝ - ΑΔΡΙΑΝΟϹ ϹΕΒ
Nominative Imperator Caesar Traianus Hadrianus Augustus
Obverse design laureate draped and cuirassed bust of Hadrian, right, seen from rear
Reverse inscription L ΚΑ
Reverse design monumental altar (of Caesareum) with six columns, surmounted with pyre
Metal copper-based alloy
Average diameter 34 mm
Axis 12
Specimens 7 (2 in the core collections)
Note Often described as altar of Agathodaemon (K; Bakhoum; Vogt, pp. 106-9; S. Handler, AJA 75 (1971), pp. 68-9); BMC said ‘enclosing statue of goddess facing; on her head, disc. (Altar of Caesareum).’ D just said: ‘Altare. Peristylium con sei colonne d’ordine Corintio, tra quelle di centro un personaggio in piede a s.; versa incense sopra altare. Sulla sommità una pyra e su ciascuna cantonata un aplustrum; le cantonate alle base hanno un ordine indecifrabile.’ Only clue is the aplustres. Some varieties have little altars between the columns (D1894). There are some round objects hanging up among the columns (e.g. D1894, Boston). The bases of the structure at l. and r. are in the form of the upper part of a human body. The same structure, with and without the central figure, also occurs on Antonine coins, which are often much better preserved than the Hadrianic pieces: see RPC IV online. J. McKenzie, The Architecture of Alexandria and Egypt (Yale, 2007), p. 187 describes it as a ‘distinctive but unidentified structure’, rejecting as unsatisfactory the identifications as the monumental altars in the Caesareum, the altar of Agathos Daimon or the altar of Alexander

Specimens of this coin type

Number Number Museum Bibliography
1 1     P: 1872
2 2     C
3 3     ✸ Cologne Geissen 1213
4 4     Vat: 505
5 5     D1891 = Naville 41, 24 June 2018, lot 335
6 6     DS7823
7 7     DS7824