Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Aleph, post: 3006741, member: 89969&quot;]While snakes are normally associated during the imperial period with Salus, they are occasionally featured with victory (see links).&nbsp; The first link shows a denarius of Vespasian with victory on a pedastool with a snake on each side.&nbsp; The reverse legend is unenlightening. The description describes this as a cyst a mystica.&nbsp; Maybe, but the association is not limited to such.&nbsp; The second denarius is of Trajan and shows victory walking on prow with a snake in front.&nbsp; This iconoagraphy is occasionally shown on denarii of other emperors, e.g. Vespasian, and is sometimes described as Nemesis.&nbsp; Victory, Pax, and Nemesis form a kind of triad sharing iconography with related meaning.&nbsp; Nemesis, while rarely portrayed during the imperial era, is the personification of univeral balance and, to use a modern term, karma.&nbsp; First question. The snake has been considered as a reference to Nemesis but I don’t quite get the connection.&nbsp; Snakes were considered ‘of the earth’, guardians of sacred spaces, symbols of healing and renewal, and sometimes just divine power of a sort- no evilness yet per the Christian serpent.&nbsp; Why is the snake a reference to Nemesis?&nbsp; Second question.&nbsp; Why is Nemesis shown on these denarius, if indeed Nemesis is intended?&nbsp; Is it a statement of the fulfillment of heavenly justice that the emperors have won victories?&nbsp; Is it a veiled threat that if you break the peace the emperor brings, you will suffer divine retribution?&nbsp; Curious for thoughts or references.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.vcoins.com/en/stores/walter_holts_old_money/118/product/vespasian_6979_silver_denarius__cista_mystica/931601/Default.aspx" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.vcoins.com/en/stores/walter_holts_old_money/118/product/vespasian_6979_silver_denarius__cista_mystica/931601/Default.aspx" rel="nofollow">https://www.vcoins.com/en/stores/walter_holts_old_money/118/product/vespasian_6979_silver_denarius__cista_mystica/931601/Default.aspx</a></p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.vcoins.com/en/stores/romae_aeternae_numismatics/136/product/trajan_ar_denarius_victory_on_prow_ornamented_with_snake_rome_ric_59_gvf/826536/Default.aspx" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.vcoins.com/en/stores/romae_aeternae_numismatics/136/product/trajan_ar_denarius_victory_on_prow_ornamented_with_snake_rome_ric_59_gvf/826536/Default.aspx" rel="nofollow">https://www.vcoins.com/en/stores/romae_aeternae_numismatics/136/product/trajan_ar_denarius_victory_on_prow_ornamented_with_snake_rome_ric_59_gvf/826536/Default.aspx</a>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in