Art Institute of Chicago

Tetradrachm (Coin) Portraying Emperor Hadrian

Roman, minted in Alexandria, Egypt

Date

131

Medium

Billon

Culture

Alexandria

Department

Arts of Greece, Rome, and Byzantium

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

The Good Emperors dedicated themselves to the well-being of the people, but as the back of their coins indicate, each ruler had his own understanding of what made good government. Although in his Satires Juvenal chided those in power for duping the populace with “bread and circuses,” feeding the people concerned all the emperors. Since Italy could no longer feed itself, rulers depended on the grain-growing provinces of Egypt and Africa to supply its food. On this coin, a figure representing the city of Alexandria presents Egypt’s crops to Emperor Hadrian.

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