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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;DonnaML, post: 7355173, member: 110350&quot;]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]1282306[/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; 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: “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>Next: another snake or serpent. (And what&#039;s the difference between those two anyway?)[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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