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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Jochen1, post: 4011361, member: 103829&quot;]Dear Friends of ancient mythology!</p><p><br /></p><p>We have seen interesting mythological depictions on Imperial coins too (but not in such wide range of variation as in Provincial coins!). Here I want to present an Imperial coin which holds mysteries until now. It is a denar of Septimius Severus though there is the same motive for Caracalla too.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>The coin:</b></p><p>Septimius Severus, AD 193-211</p><p>AR - Denar, 2.97g, 18.13mm</p><p>Rome, AD 204</p><p>obv. SEPTIMIVS - PIVS AVG</p><p>Laureate bust r., beard plaited, braid across cheek (so-called Serapis type)</p><p>rev. INDVLGENTIA AVGG</p><p>Dea Celestis, turreted, head r., riding on lion r., holding sceptre and thunderbolt. Below water flowing r., arising from rock on l. side.</p><p>in ex. IN CARTH</p><p>Ref.: RIC IV/1, 266; C.222; BMC 335</p><p>about EF</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1055363[/ATTACH]</p><p><b>Note:</b></p><p>This coin is known in three different variants:</p><p>a) Goddess holding sceptre and thunderbolt, head facing</p><p>b) Goddess holding sceptre and thunderbolt, head r.</p><p>c) Goddess holding sceptre and drum</p><p>Type a) and b) is common, type c) is rare.</p><p><br /></p><p>Already the cause for issueing this coin is not certainly known. Apparently Septimius, who as is generally known was coming from Leptis Magna in Northern Africa, has undertaken a journey to Carthage and Leptis. INDVLGENTIA is translated to &#039;clemency, mildness, grace&#039;. In connection with the water flowing from the rock it could be an allusion to an aquaeduct which the emperor has built, enhanced or repaired. That would be expressed by &#039;grace&#039;. Or he has lowered or cancelled any water rates. That would be expressed by &#039;clemency&#039;. At any case after a first edition without IN CARTH in ex. this was added to the rev. Perhaps the depiction without IN CARTH has made no sense to the Romans. Another possibility worth to be discussed could be that the flowing water was an attribute of Dea Caelestis herself. And so we come to the pictured deity. And there we have much confusion as well. Naturally the religion of the Romans in these times was already syncretistic and many different deities were mixed up to form new deities. But this is not true for Dea Caelestis. Here we are still able to differentiate.</p><p><br /></p><p>At first she must be distinguished from the goddess Dea Syria. Dea Syria belongs to the ambit of Kybele-Rhea and has nothing to deal with our goddess. Dea Caelestis is nothing else than the ancient city-goddess of Carthage. Her old name was <i>Tanut</i> or more correctly <i>Tinit</i>. The Carthagean like the Phoenician font does not know vowels. The name of the goddesss was written TNT. The connecting vowels now are known from newly found Greek inscriptions.</p><p><br /></p><p>Dea Caelestis or Virgo Caelestis as the city goddess of Carthage was called by the Romans, came to Rome referring to the official version after the fall of Carthage by <i>evocatio</i>. But before Septimius she is not known outside of Africa. So this version can&#039;t be true. Her Roman temple stood inside the Pomerium, the sacred district of Rome, on the Northern part of the Palatine. Her cult was on top of all other foreign cults. Here we find orgiastic activities as they were usual for Tinit. Naturally it came to a mixture with similar deities, e.g.. with Kybele who was depicted with lions and drums too. BTW Caelestis should not be confused with the epitheton &#039;<i>caelestis</i>&#039; which often is added to deities.</p><p><br /></p><p>Tinit beside Baal Hammon was the main goddess of Carthage. Probably she came from Libya because her name has Berber reminiscences and in Phoenicia were found no confirmations. By political-religious reforms during the 4th century BC she came on the top of the Carthagean pantheon. Partly uranic, partly chthonic, she was Heavens Goddess, Moon and Fertility Goddess with the symbols crescent, palm, dove, pomegranate etc. She was associated with Hera and Demeter, was called &#039;Mother&#039;, but was Death Goddess too with Hermes Psychopompos. It is said that children were sacrificed to her. With the Punic expansion her cult spread to Sicily, Sardinia, Malta and Spain. To the Roman Imperial cult she was introduced not before Elagabal.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Note:</b></p><p><i>Evocatio</i>: After having defeated an enemy the Romans usually asked the deities of the conquered city to move over to the victorious Rome where in a ceremonial procession they were assigned a sacred location. Thereby the power of the adversary deities was believed to be added to the Roman power.</p><p><br /></p><p>I have added the picture of Tanit on a stele from the Tophet in Carthage. Her symbol was the triangle with a bar on top (Wikipedia).</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1055364[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p><i>Tophet</i>: Sacred place of the Phoenicians, where animals and small children were sacrificed to Tanit and Baal Hammon. The sacrifice of small children may also have been Roman atrocity propanda.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Sources:</b></p><p>(1) Der kleine Pauly</p><p>(2) Wikipedia</p><p><br /></p><p>Best regards</p><p>Jochen[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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