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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;GinoLR, post: 24791555, member: 128351&quot;]I love this sestertius, not only for its nice patina or its impressive portrait of Septimius Severus. I love it for its reverse : it&#039;s not only &quot;Minerva mit Lanze und Schild&quot;, it&#039;s the Palladium ! The most sacred relic of Rome, said to have been smuggled out of Troy by Aeneas himself and deposited in Italy, where it eventually ended in Rome. It was kept in the temple of Vesta on the forum. It was so sacred nobody had the right to touch it, even to directly look at it, except of course the Pontifex Maximus.</p><p><br /></p><p>The Palladium was a xoanon, an archaic wooden statue of Pallas. I don&#039;t think it actually came in Aeneas&#039; luggage, that&#039;s a pious legend probably diffused by Julius Caesar. On Caesar&#039;s denarii we can see Aeneas carrying his old father Anchises and the Palladium :</p><p>(not my denarius)</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1586063[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>In the early 3rd c. BC the Palladium was probably still in Pergamon, it is represented on this city&#039;s coins (silver, gold). For ex. on this diobol (not mine too):</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1586066[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>It was probably transferred from Pergamon in the mid 3rd c. BC, for in c. BC 241 it seems that it was already in the temple of Vesta in Rome (or was it a miniature version?). The temple caught fire and the Pontifex Maximus L. Caecilius Metellus threw himself in the flames to recover the sacred relics. He could salvage them, but, according to tradition, became blind because he had seen the relics. The chaplain of the Paris Fire Department was lucky to to meet the same fate when he rushed into the burning Notre Dame cathedral and saved the Holy Crown of Thorns...</p><p><br /></p><p>There was a famous Greek image showing, when Troy was being plundered by the Achaeans, Cassandra clutching the Palladium in its temple while Ajax the Lesser was trying to seize her. It inspired many vase paintings, for ex. this one from Athens c. BC 440-430 :</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1586067[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>or this Hellenistic Pompeii fresco :</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1586068[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>The Palladium is represented on many Roman coins, most often as a tiny statuette held by much taller emperors, deities or personifications. Your Septimius Severus sestertius reverse is the largest representation of the Palladium on a Roman coin. But it&#039;s a mere representation on a sestertius, looking at it is safe.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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