Ephesos (AD 117-138) AE 36 - Hadrian

Hadrian, 117-138 AD. AE36 - Medallion (33.62g, 12h). Struck 129 AD(?). ΑΔΡΙΑΝΟC ΚΑ-ICΑΡ ΟΛΥΜΠΙΟC, laureate and cuirassed bust right wearing aegis / Cult statue of Diana of Ephesus within ornate octostyle temple. Near VF, dark green surfaces, minor roughness.

The emperor Hadrian was granted many honorific titles by the Greeks, including "Savior," "Founder," "New Dionysus," "New Heracles," "Panhellenius," and "Savior of the World," but the epithet "Olympius" is perhaps the most presumptuous. During Hadrian’s visits to Athens early in AD 129, he visited the massive Temple of Zeus Olympius (also known as the Olympeion). The Historia Augusta reports that at this time Hadrian dedicated an altar to himself, by virtue of which he seems to have elected himself a god and to have invested himself with the powers of the Olympian Zeus. This issue was possibly struck on the occasion of Hadrian’s visit to Ephesos later the same year.