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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Roman Collector, post: 3126793, member: 75937&quot;]Sorry to resurrect this nearly two-year-old thread, but I thought it more appropriate than to start a new one since its purpose is primarily to add new information.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>I&#039;ve had the opportunity to review the history of the iconography of Venus Victrix on Roman imperial coins and this particular rendering of Venus appears to go back to Octavian (Augustus):</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]796937[/ATTACH]</p><p>RIC1, 250a; BMCRR2, 4333;&nbsp; BMCRE1, 599 (British Museum specimen).</p><p><br /></p><p>We&#039;ve seen examples from the Flavian period on coins of Titus ([USER=82616]@David Atherton[/USER] &#039;s example above) and Julia Titi (my example in the OP). We&#039;ve also seen it appear on the anepigraphic reverse type of Sabina, on Stevex6&#039;s example immediately above.</p><p><br /></p><p>[USER=19463]@dougsmit[/USER] asks a very interesting question:</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>I wonder if the same concerns about modesty may have arisen during the reign of Antoninus Pius because the iconography of Venus Victrix changes for the first time in the imperial series with this issue of Faustina I, which depicts Venus (probably as Victrix) clothed and resting her arm on a large shield:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]796939[/ATTACH]</p><p>Faustina I, AD 138-141.</p><p>Roman AR denarius, 3.0 g, 17.1 mm.</p><p>Rome, AD 147-161.</p><p>Obv: DIVA FAVSTINA, bare-headed and draped bust, right.</p><p>Rev: AVGVSTA, Venus standing facing, head left, holding apple and resting left arm on shield.</p><p>Refs: RIC 366a; BMCRE 432-33; Cohen/RSC 73; RCV 4586; CRE 147.</p><p><br /></p><p>Granted, it&#039;s impossible to prove that Venus here is intended to be portrayed as Venus Victrix in particular, but the presence of a shield is very suggestive. Moreover, are we certain the round object Venus holds in her right hand is an apple and not meant to be a helmet? Compare this design to the denarius of Lucilla (below) and to this one on the reverse of a sestertius of Julia Mamaea, each of which <i>is</i> explicitly labeled VENVS VICTRIX:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]796941[/ATTACH]</p><p>Julia Mamaea, AD 222-235.</p><p>Roman orichalcum sestertius, 23.08 g, 30.6 mm, 12 h.</p><p>Rome, 12th emission, AD 231.</p><p>Obv: IVLIA MAMAEA AVGVSTA, diademed and draped bust, right.</p><p>Rev: VENVS VICTRIX S C, Venus standing left, holding helmet and scepter, shield at her feet.</p><p>Refs: RIC 705; BMCRE 718; Cohen 78; RCV 8235.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>If Antoninus Pius may have had an issue with his late wife appearing on a coin with a naked Venus Victrix, his adopted son and successor, Marcus Aurelius, appears to have had no similar hangup. We see a return to the bare-bottomed Venus Victrix iconography of Octavian, Titus, Julia Titi and Sabina with this issue of Faustina II (RIC 723), explicitly labeled as Venus Victrix, admittedly with less of her buttocks exposed:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]796942[/ATTACH]</p><p>Source: Numismatik Naumann <a href="https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=1739596" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=1739596" rel="nofollow">Auction 9, lot 537</a>, November 3, 2013.</p><p><br /></p><p>On the coins of Faustina II&#039;s daughter, Lucilla, we see another change in the iconography of Venus Victrix -- to a frontal view in which she appears with her right breast bared and holding a Victoriola. Note she rests her left hand on a large shield, as in the denarius issued by her grandmother shown above:</p><p>[ATTACH=full]796948[/ATTACH]</p><p>Lucilla, AD 164-169.</p><p>Roman AR denarius, 3.41 g, 17.3 mm, 11 h.</p><p>Rome, AD 166-169.</p><p>Obv: LVCILLA AVGVSTA, bare-headed and draped bust right.</p><p>Rev: VENVS VICTRIX, Venus standing facing, head left, holding Victory and resting left hand on shield.</p><p>Refs: RIC 786; BMCRE 353; Cohen 89; RCV 5492; CRE 268.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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