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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;DonnaML, post: 7939572, member: 110350&quot;]Thanks for this, [USER=75937]@Roman Collector[/USER]; it&#039;s incredibly informative, as always. I hope it remains on the front page long enough to get the attention it deserves.</p><p><br /></p><p>To that end, although I have no Faustina coins depicting Salus, here are a few Salus coins I do have.</p><p><br /></p><p>Roman Republic, Manius Acilius Glabrio, AR Denarius, 50 BCE (Harlan and BMCRR) or 49 BCE (Crawford), Rome Mint. Obv. Laureate head of Salus right, wearing necklace and earring, with hair collected behind in knot ornamented with jewels, SALVTIS upwards behind head / Rev. Valetudo* [<i>Harlan says portrayal is of a statue of Valetudo</i>] standing left, holding snake with right hand and resting left arm on column, MN•ACILIVS [downwards on right] III•VIR•VALETV [upwards on left] [MN and TV monogrammed].&nbsp; RSC I Acilia 8, Crawford 442/1a, Sydenham 922, Sear RCV I 412 (ill.), Harlan, RRM II Ch. 30 at pp. 229-238, BMCRR Rome 3945. 17.5 mm., 3.98 g. </p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1373926[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>* Valetudo was essentially another manifestation of Salus (portrayed on the obverse), the goddess of health and well-being -- a concept sometimes “extended to include not only physical health but also the general welfare of the Roman people, the army and the state.” John Melville Jones, <i>Dictionary of Ancient Roman Coins</i> (London, 1990) at p. 276.&nbsp; This is the only Roman coin to depict a personification of Valetudo. See <i>id</i>. at p. 314.&nbsp; Crawford (Vol. I at p. 461) says that “perhaps” these types refer to the story that the first Greek doctor to come to Rome practiced on the <i>gens</i> Acilia’s street, and that “it is also possible” that “expectations of a Caesarian victory influenced the choice of types.”</p><p><br /></p><p>Harlan dismisses the “first Greek doctor” story (pointing out that the actual story in Pliny characterizes that doctor very negatively, giving no reason to commemorate him) (see RRM II at p. 231), and vigorously argues that the coin was actually pro-Pompey, not pro-Caesar. He argues that Acilius was Pompey’s stepson for a brief period of time, born in Pompey’s house (stating that he was the son of Aemilia, Pompey’s second wife, who apparently divorced Acilius’s father to marry Pompey while she was pregnant with Acilius, although she died in childbirth and Pompey soon remarried to Mucia Tertia).&nbsp; Harlan suggests that the specific inspiration for the depictions on this coin was Pompey’s grave illness around the time the coin was issued, and that the coin equated the health of Pompey with the health of the Republic: “&nbsp;&nbsp; If the coin is dated to 50, by the end of the year, anyone who saw Salus and Valetudo on the coinage could only call to mind the national concern, and then the universal relief and thanksgiving over Pompey’s return to health. Whatever the intended meaning, certainly by the end of the year 50 the coin could easily be seen as a piece of Pompeian propaganda proclaiming that they are the ones protecting the state and Caesar is the threat to the safety of the Republic.”&nbsp; (RRM II at pp. 232-233.)&nbsp; Harlan also estimates, based on the number of known different obverse and reverse dies,&nbsp; that nearly 11 million of these denarii were minted (the most during this time-period), and suggests that they were intended to be used to pay the 130,000 troops that the Senate authorized Pompey to raise in preparation for the coming conflict. (Id. p. 234.)</p><p><br /></p><p>Nero AR Denarius, Obv. Laureate head right, IMP CAESAR AVG P P/ Rev. Salus seated, holding patera, SALVS in exergue. RIC I 71, RSC II 316. 19 mm., 3.3 g.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1373927[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Maximinus I Thrax, AE Sestertius, 236-238 AD, Rome Mint. Obv. Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right, MAXIMINVS PIVS AVG GERM / Rev. Salus seated left, holding patera with outstretched right hand and using it to feed a serpent rising from an altar; resting left arm on side of chair, SALVS AVGVSTI; S C in exergue. RIC IV 85, BMCRE 175-176, Cohen 92, Sear RCV III 8338 (ill.). 31 mm., 17.58 g., 12 h.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1373928[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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