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<p>[QUOTE="DonnaML, post: 7662141, member: 110350"]I've posted this interesting article in the past about the personification of Virtus being female, with a number of examples: <a href="https://www.forumancientcoins.com/moonmoth/reverse_virtus.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.forumancientcoins.com/moonmoth/reverse_virtus.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.forumancientcoins.com/moonmoth/reverse_virtus.html</a>. Regarding a VIRTVS legend sometimes being accompanied by a male personage such as Mars or the emperor, the article also addresses that type of image, arising from the tension inherent in having a female personification of the manliest of virtues, i.e., martial valor -- essentially, manliness itself. See <a href="https://www.forumancientcoins.com/moonmoth/reverse_virtus.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.forumancientcoins.com/moonmoth/reverse_virtus.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.forumancientcoins.com/moonmoth/reverse_virtus.html</a> :</p><p><br /></p><p>"Virtus embodies manly courage and strength of character. There were powerful female figures in Roman culture, but these were generally goddesses like Minerva, not mortals. So, having a female personification of these qualities sometimes presented difficulties to the propagandists. As a result, coins often showed, not Virtus herself, but a soldier or the emperor with a "VIRTVS" legend to indicate that the army, or the emperor, was valorous and manly. In fact, a whole range of characters were brought into play. Here are some. . . ."</p><p><br /></p><p>The article proceeds to give various examples of coins with a VIRTVS reverse legend accompanied by images not of VIRTVS herself but of the emperor, or a soldier, or Mars.</p><p><br /></p><p>Here's my own obviously female example of Virtus on this Hadrian dupondius, with her bare right breast (although I think the placement of the parazonium is no coincidence, speaking of manliness):</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/hadrian-dupondius-virtus-reverse-with-parazonium-jpg.1254227/" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>Also, here's a page from a 2014 article by Lillian Joyce entitled "Roma and the Virtuous Breast," in the publication "Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome," discussing the similarities between the Amazonian "one bare breast" artistic portrayals of both Roma and Virtus:</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/discussion-of-virtus-jpg.1254228/" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>An excerpt to the same general effect from the Google Books preview of Myles McDonnell, <i>Roman Manliness - Virtus and the Roman Republic </i>(Cambridge 2006), at p. 149:</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/excerpt-re-virtus-from-mcdonnell-book-jpg.1148655/" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" />[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="DonnaML, post: 7662141, member: 110350"]I've posted this interesting article in the past about the personification of Virtus being female, with a number of examples: [URL]https://www.forumancientcoins.com/moonmoth/reverse_virtus.html[/URL]. Regarding a VIRTVS legend sometimes being accompanied by a male personage such as Mars or the emperor, the article also addresses that type of image, arising from the tension inherent in having a female personification of the manliest of virtues, i.e., martial valor -- essentially, manliness itself. See [URL]https://www.forumancientcoins.com/moonmoth/reverse_virtus.html[/URL] : "Virtus embodies manly courage and strength of character. There were powerful female figures in Roman culture, but these were generally goddesses like Minerva, not mortals. So, having a female personification of these qualities sometimes presented difficulties to the propagandists. As a result, coins often showed, not Virtus herself, but a soldier or the emperor with a "VIRTVS" legend to indicate that the army, or the emperor, was valorous and manly. In fact, a whole range of characters were brought into play. Here are some. . . ." The article proceeds to give various examples of coins with a VIRTVS reverse legend accompanied by images not of VIRTVS herself but of the emperor, or a soldier, or Mars. Here's my own obviously female example of Virtus on this Hadrian dupondius, with her bare right breast (although I think the placement of the parazonium is no coincidence, speaking of manliness): [IMG]https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/hadrian-dupondius-virtus-reverse-with-parazonium-jpg.1254227/[/IMG] Also, here's a page from a 2014 article by Lillian Joyce entitled "Roma and the Virtuous Breast," in the publication "Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome," discussing the similarities between the Amazonian "one bare breast" artistic portrayals of both Roma and Virtus: [IMG]https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/discussion-of-virtus-jpg.1254228/[/IMG] An excerpt to the same general effect from the Google Books preview of Myles McDonnell, [I]Roman Manliness - Virtus and the Roman Republic [/I](Cambridge 2006), at p. 149: [IMG]https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/excerpt-re-virtus-from-mcdonnell-book-jpg.1148655/[/IMG][/QUOTE]
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