Detail View: The AMICA Library: Reverse: Hadrian receives grain from Alexandria ('Year 15')

AMICA ID: 
AIC_.1980.824
AMICA Library Year: 
1999
Object Type: 
Decorative Arts and Utilitarian Objects
Creator Nationality: 
European; Southern European; Roman
Creator Dates/Places: 
Roman Republic and Empire
Creator Name-CRT: 
Roman
Title: 
Coin Showing Emperor Hadrian
Title Type: 
preferred
Title: 
Reverse: Hadrian receives grain from Alexandria ('Year 15')
Title Type: 
alternate
View: 
obverse
Creation Date: 
Reign of Hadrian, Roman Empire, A.D. 131
Creation Start Date: 
117
Creation End Date: 
138
Materials and Techniques: 
Billon tetradrachm
Classification Term: 
Coin
Subject Description: 
Egypt welcomed the long-awaited visit of Hadrian in A.D. 130, the fifteenth year of his reign. The elephant scalp worn by the personification of Alexandria on the reverse is a reference to the African forest elehant, native to Ethiopia. Alexandria's giftof wheat to the emperor, which is depicted on the reverse of this coin, signifies Egypt's vast grain exports, on which Rome relied. Hadrian's idealized portrait is typically philhellene.
Creation Place: 
...,Egypt,Urban (region),Al-Iskandariyah (governorate),Alexandria
Dimensions: 
Diameter: 2.5 cm (1 in.)
AMICA Contributor: 
The Art Institute of Chicago
Owner Location: 
Chicago, Illinois, USA
ID Number: 
1980.824
Credit Line: 
The Art Institute of Chicago, Gift of Robert Grover
Rights: 
Related Image Identifier Link: 
AIC_.D12736.TIF