Reply to Thread

Message:: [QUOTE="Roman Collector, post: 3960493, member: 75937"]Diana Lucifera and Luna Lucifera are essentially the same. I didn't bring this up to distinguish the two names of the goddess as if they were somehow different. I said this to point out that the figure on the Caracalla coin is Luna Lucifera because that coin doesn't specifically say that it is. The coin's reverse reads P M TR P XX COS IIII P P. I note that the corresponding coins of Domna do explicitly read LVNA LVCIFERA, so the figure on the reverse of the Caracalla coin is almost certainly Luna Lucifera, too. I know the small silver coins don't show stars. Nor do they on the Faustina silver issues: [ATTACH=full]1043218[/ATTACH] But they do on the corresponding sestertius: [ATTACH=full]1043223[/ATTACH] I think this is only because the silver issues are too small to represent them. I think, though, the typical Greco-Roman polytheist may have interpreted the "billowing veil" as representing the celestial hemisphere despite the lack of detail or stars. We see what we expect to see and I think the average Roman was familiar with representations of Luna, including some that depicted her with the mantle of the heavens.[/QUOTE]