As Emperor, Hadrian was also Rome's pontifex maximus, responsible for all religious affairs and the proper functioning of official religious institutions throughout the empire. His Hispano-Roman origins and marked pro-Hellenism shifted the focus of the official imperial cult, from Rome to the Provinces. While his standard coin issues still identified him with the traditional "genius populi Romani", other issues stressed his personal identification with "Hercules Gaditanus" (Hercules of Gades), and Rome's imperial protection of Greek civilisation. He promoted Sagalassos in Greek Pisidia as the Empire's leading Imperial cult centre; his exclusively Greek "Panhellenion" extolled Athens as the spiritual centre of Greek culture.