Optimus Maximus (“Best and Greatest”) is all but missing from the coinage apart
from a brief flurry of references in the civil wars ofad 68 –9 (fig. 11.26). Jupiter is
far more often surnamed Conservator with the frequent addition Augusti (“Savior
of the Emperor”), Custos (“Guardian”), or Victor. The most significant factor in
guiding the choice and description of divinities on coins, in the imperial period at
least, seems to have been the relationship of the god in question to the emperor or
the empire. Hence, presumably, the absence of the figure of Jupiter from Augustus’
coinage, and the presence of Mars Ultor (“the Avenger”) and Apollo Actius (“of
Actium”), both of whom had a close relationship to the emperor, being regarded
as patrons of his early military victories at Philippi and Actium; or the dominance of
Minerva on the coinage of Domitian, a goddess to whom we know he was particu-
larly devoted, and the brief prominence of types and legends referring to Sol Elagabalus
on the coins of his devotee, the emperor Elagabalus (fig. 11.27).
Personifications fall broadly into two categories: those that refer to the emperors’
virtues – Aequitas (“Fairness”), Clementia (“Mercy”), Liberalitas (“Generosity”), Pietas
(“Religiosity”) and so on – and those that refer to desired qualities or attributes of
the empire as a whole – Salus (“Safety”), Spes (“Hope”), Securitas (“Security”), Felicitas
(“Prosperity”), Hilaritas (“Joyousness”), etc. Some of these received public cult,
others seem to have had no life apart from their imagery on coins and elsewhere.
The imperial virtues as a group first become popular in the reign of Nerva and con-
tinue so for the next two centuries or so. Noreña has shown that, as a medium for
conveying the emperor’s qualities, they are far more frequent than scenes involving
him and the imperial family (Noreña 2001: 154). In other words, the coins will tend
to show a figure of Pietas rather than the emperor sacrificing (fig. 11.28). As with
the depiction of religious apparatus, the preference for depicting the imperial virtues
is a particularly Roman style that is mostly absent from the provincial coinages, except156 Jonathan WilliamsFigure 11.26 Denarius of Vitellius, ad69, with temple and image of Jupiter Capitolinus.
19 mm.
Figure 11.27 Gold aureusof Elagabalus (ad218 –22), showing the stone image of the
god Sol Elagabal being drawn in a chariot. 20 mm.