Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;DonnaML, post: 4576756, member: 110350&quot;][USER=51347]@Alegandron[/USER] and [USER=44132]@Bing[/USER], this is definitely a different story from the standard oath-taking scene as depicted on the Ti. Veturius coin.&nbsp; RSC and BMCRR describe the reverse of the Sulpicius Galba coin as just another oath-taking scene, but Crawford and RCV disagree.&nbsp; See Sear RCV I at p. 108: “Crawford’s interpretation of this interesting type seems the most convincing: it refers to Aeneas’ [landing at and founding of] Lavinium (home of the Sulpicia <i>gens</i>) with the Penates, and the subsequent miracle of the great white sow [giving birth to 30 piglets], which foretold the founding of Alba Longa, where the soil was more fertile, 30 years later.&quot;&nbsp; See also this recounting of the story, in discussing the Sulpicius Galba coin, giving a version differing slightly from [USER=51347]@Alegandron[/USER]&#039;s quotation from the Cliff Notes on the <i>Aeneid</i>:</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.forumancientcoins.com/historia/coins/r1/r02310.htm" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.forumancientcoins.com/historia/coins/r1/r02310.htm" rel="nofollow">https://www.forumancientcoins.com/historia/coins/r1/r02310.htm</a></p><p><br /></p><p><b><i>The Dei Panates and the large sow</i></b></p><p><b><i><br /></i></b></p><p><i>When Aeneas fled from Troy, Helenus, a son of Priam, predicted that Aeneas would build a new city at a place where a white sow would give birth to 30 piglets. When Aeneas and his Trojans arrived at the coast of Latium after a long voyage from Carthage, they were hungry and so landed on the beach to eat. Aeneas prepared to sacrifice a pregnant white sow that he had brought in his ship for this purpose, but the sow escaped and fled inland, laying down under an oak-tree (or ilex-tree) and giving birth to 30 white piglets. Because of the prophecy Aeneas knew that he should built a city here. He sacrificed the 30 piglets and erected a shrine at this place. The new city he called Lavinium referring to Lavinia, daughter of king Latinus.</i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i>However King Latinus had given his daughter Lavinia to Aeneas when she was already engaged to Thurnius the king of the Rutuli. Thurnius began a war against the Latini and the Trojans in which both he and Latinus were killed. So Aeneas became king in Latium. In the continuing wars Aeneas was also killed, his body taken away by a river. Ascanius succeeded him as king. He was able to defeat his rivals and the Latini now became stronger and more powerful. They built a new city, called Alba Longa. The name Alba Longa is said to be derived from the white sow (it actually means &quot;long white&quot;). On the Forum of Lavinium stood a bronze statue of the sow.</i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i>The Penates (latin &quot;dii penates&quot;) were gods of the house and especially the hearth. They were responsible for the supply of food and drinks. When Aeneas escaped from Troy he took the Penates with him from Troy to Lavinium.</i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i>Lavinium was the home of the Sulpicia gens, so hence the allusions to the great white sow and the Penates.</i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p>But whether only the piglets were sacrificed or the sow as well, and whether or not the sow came on Aeneas&#039;s ship and escaped from the beach before being found -- I don&#039;t plan to dig out my copy of the <i>Aeneid</i> to check! -- do you think the soldier on the left is spearing her right there on the coin?&nbsp; (I agree that she looks like she recently gave birth, but I think those are supposed to be her teats, not the piglets themselves.)[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in