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Hygieia, the personification of health
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Gordian III and Tranquillina
Moesia Inferior, Tomis. Æ 4 Assaria (?) (27mm, 11.2 gm), struck AD 241.
Obv: AVT K M ANTWNIOC GORDIANOC, TRANKVLI/NA, Laureate bust of Gordian III, facing right, confronting diademed and draped bust of Tranquillina, facing left.
Rev: MHTROPONTOV TOMEWC, Hygeia standing, feeding snake from patera.
Moushmov 2288. (Contributed by EmpressCollector).
Hygieia is usually said to be a daughter of Asklepios, along with her sisters, Panacea and Iaso. Hygieia, though, was the most important of the attendants of Asklepios and was thought by some in antiquity to be not his daughter but his wife. She was more important than other members of the family and more on par with Asklepios himself. Hygieia is remembered today in the word, "hygiene." She appears on numerous coins, usually depicted feeding the sacred snake from a patera. She was often identified with Salus, an old Roman goddess.
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