What a beauty! I would be very proud to own it as well Ignasi.
A great coin on so many levels, but in terms of
Roman proper gander it is particularly interesting.
Salus was the personification of
health and prosperity for both the individual and the state. Many citizens must have prayed to this sympathetic goddess for their personal well being and it would have been assumed by
Nero’s administration that her association with the Emperor would emotionally link the
health of the state to the individual viewing the coin.
Of course if you were a cynic you might see a smug, overfed
dictator apparently accepting an offering
dish by the slim goddess of
health and say to yourself “ I
hope she put some hemlock in it!”.
Best Regards,
Steve
