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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;DonnaML, post: 4563960, member: 110350&quot;]You&#039;re probably right, Curtis. However, I don&#039;t think it&#039;s a coincidence that this was the first coin to be jointly issued by two moneyers in a decade (since Sulla&#039;s reforms in 81 BCE) (see Harlan, RRM I at p. 147), and portrays not one head but two jugate heads on the obverse -- also, I believe, the first time that was done during that period. Harlan also mentions that Gaius Marius had dedicated a temple to Honos and Virtus -- he refers to them as &quot;these two gods&quot; (id.) -- to commemorate his victory over the Cimbri and Teutoni in 101 (citing Cicero, <i>De Divinatione.</i>) See also <a href="https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Roma/Rome/_Texts/PLATOP*/Honos_et_Virtus.html#2" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Roma/Rome/_Texts/PLATOP*/Honos_et_Virtus.html#2" rel="nofollow">https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Roma/Rome/_Texts/PLATOP*/Honos_et_Virtus.html#2</a>, discussing that temple at length, with specific reference to the ancient texts. Unfortunately, it says nothing more specific about Honos and Virtus themselves (&quot;Honoris et Virtutis&quot; in Latin) beyond referring to them both as &quot;gods.&quot; I certainly don&#039;t have time to click on all the links to those ancient texts to see how, if at all, Virtus was described in them!</p><p><br /></p><p>What about the relatively short hair on Virtus on the other coin?</p><p><br /></p><p>I&#039;m not arguing with you, just wondering about those two coins, given the androgynousness of the two depictions of Virtus on these Republican coins.&nbsp; By contrast, the other female personifications you mention -- Concordia, Felicitas, Justitia, Libertas, Pax, Salus, Securitas, and Victoria -- were always, to the best of my knowledge, portrayed as unambiguously female. Certainly we&#039;re in agreement that that&#039;s also the case for Virtus&#039;s portrayal on Imperial coins, given her bare breast.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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