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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;DonnaML, post: 8342002, member: 110350&quot;]A very interesting coin, [USER=116315]@Claudius_Gothicus[/USER]. Your interpretation of the small figure makes a lot of sense to me. Which Wolkow book are you citing? The one I own is devoted exclusively to the Zoo Series of Gallienus.</p><p><br /></p><p>Just about all of my Gallienus coins are from the Zoo Series, except for one or two -- including one from the &quot;legionary series&quot; with a bull on the reverse. But here is the very first Roman Republican coin to depict Pietas:</p><p><br /></p><p>Roman Republic, M. Herennius, AR Denarius, Rome Mint, 108-107 BCE. Obv. Diademed head of Pietas right, wearing single drop earring and pearl necklace, PIETAS (TA ligate) downward to left / Rev. Naked youth (one of the Catanaean brothers, Amphinomous or Anapias) running right and carrying his father on his shoulder to escape from erupting Mt. Etna, <i>or</i> Aeneas carrying his father Anchises to escape from defeated Troy, with his father looking back (towards Mt. Etna or Troy) and raising his right hand; M • HERENNI (HE ligate) downward to left, Control-mark • above C in lower right field.* Crawford 308/1b, RSC I Herennia 1a, Sear RCV I 185 (ill.), BMCRR 1258-1285 [No. 1261 has same control-mark], Sydenham 567a, RBW Collection 1149. 19mm, 4.0g, 7h. <i>Purchased at JAZ Numismatics Auction # 181, Lot 6, April 2021; ex. Frederick B. Shore; ex. Stack’s Public Auction Sale, “A Collection of Ancient Roman Coins,” June 14-15, 1971, Lot 127, at p. 16</i> [not illustrated in plates] (see catalog at <a href="https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/auctionlots?AucCoId=3&amp;AuctionId=516472" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/auctionlots?AucCoId=3&amp;AuctionId=516472" rel="nofollow">https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/auctionlots?AucCoId=3&amp;AuctionId=516472#</a>search).** [Footnotes omitted, except for a portion of the second footnote relating to Pietas.]</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1479318[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>**The obverse portrayal of Pietas is her very first depiction on a Roman coin. See Crawford Vol. II p. 866 (subject index); <a href="http://numismatics.org/crro/results?q=pietas;" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://numismatics.org/crro/results?q=pietas;" rel="nofollow">http://numismatics.org/crro/results?q=pietas;</a> Jones, John Melville, <i>A Dictionary of Ancient Roman Coins</i> (Seaby, London, 1990), entry for “Pietas” at p. 243 (“Pietas (in the form of a female head wearing a diadem) first appears on Roman coins c. 108 B.C. on a denarius of M. Herennius”).&nbsp; As Jones points out, the concept of <i>pietas</i> has “a wider sense than in modern English, covering not only one’s duty towards the gods but also towards the State and one’s family.” <i>Id.</i></p><p><br /></p><p>All authorities agree that the scene on the reverse illustrates <i>pietas</i>, specifically filial <i>pietas</i>. There are, however, two possible identifications of the scene depicted -- namely, [omitting discussion of Catanaean brothers vs. Aeneas &amp; Anchises theories].</p><p><br /></p><p>I have a number of Roman Imperial coins with a reverse legend relating to Pietas, but these are the only two actually to depict her personification (in each case, representing a living Augusta):</p><p><br /></p><p>Antoninus Pius Æ Dupondius, Rome, ca. 159-160 AD, Rome Mint. Obv. Radiate head right, ANTONINVS AVG PIVS P P TR P XXIII / Rev. Pietas [representing Faustina II] standing left, holding globe in extended right hand and infant in left arm, two children standing at her feet, one on each side , each with one arm raised [probably representing the Emperor’s three granddaughters then living, namely Marcus Aurelius’s and Faustina II’s daughters Annia Faustina (a/k/a Faustina III), Lucilla, and Fadilla; issued before birth of Cornificia in Aug. 160], PIET-ATI - AVG COS IIII, S-C across fields. RIC III 1035, Sear RCV II 4280 (ill.), Cohen 625. 25.5 mm., 15.57 g. [<i>Ex. Naville Numismatics, Auction 28, Jan. 22, 2017, Lot 611, previously in Italian collection (with old ticket in Italian in name of “Antonino Pio”)</i></p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/sharpened-antoninus-pius-pietas-ric-1035-image-from-naville-28-lot-611-jpg.1315353/" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>Plautilla (wife of Caracalla) AR Denarius, 203-204 AD. Obv. PLAVTILLA AVGVSTA, draped bust r./ Rev. PIETAS AVGG, Pietas standing r. holding scepter &amp; child. RIC IV 367, RSC III 16. 20 mm., 3.4 g.*</p><p><img src="https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/plautilla-jpg.1174748/" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p>*The depiction of Pietas (representing Plautilla) on the reverse holding a child is believed to have been issued to celebrate the AD 204 birth of a child who died in infancy.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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