Aureus (Coin) Portraying Empress Sabina (134, issued by Hadrian): Artwork and History

Aureus (Coin) Portraying Empress Sabina (134, issued by Hadrian) is in the Art Institute of Chicago collection. The museum lists its creator attribution as Roman, minted in Rome.

The work and its context

The Art Institute of Chicago describes the work:

The arranged marriage between Hadrian (76–138; reigned 117–138) and Sabina (83–136/37), who is portrayed on this gold coin, took place around 100, but ancient writers reported that it was not a loving relationship. They were childless, and although Hadrian granted Sabina many of the honors usually accorded to an empress, he did not mint coins with her portrait until much later in his reign, around 128. The front (obverse) of this coin portrays the bust of Sabina, draped, wearing a diadem; her hair is waved up in a crest. The back (reverse) depicts the goddess Juno standing to the left, veiled, with a patera in her right hand extended over a peacock, her left hand rests on a scepter.

Object facts

• Title: Aureus (Coin) Portraying Empress Sabina
• Date: 134, issued by Hadrian
• Artist attribution: Roman, minted in Rome
• Place of origin: Rome
• Medium: Gold
• Dimensions: Diam.: 1.9 cm (3/4 in.)
• Type: Coin
• Department: Arts of Greece, Rome, and Byzantium
• Reference number: 1922.4873

Collection credit

Gift of Martin A. Ryerson

View the original

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The description above is credited to the Art Institute of Chicago and reused under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0; HTML formatting has been converted to plain text. Other catalogue metadata and the public-domain image are provided under CC0 1.0.