Fecunditas

Fecunditas (Latin: "fecundity, fertility") was the goddess of fertility. She was portrayed as a matron, sometimes holding a cornucopia or a hasta pura, with children in her arms or standing next to her.


DICTIONARY OF ROMAN COINS



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Fecunditas - Nero erected atemple to Fecundity, on the occasion of a daughter being borne to him by Poppaea (Tacit |xv| 23). And the adoration of this divinity, once established at Rome, became a frequent subject of allusion and typification on the coins of succeeding empresses.

It has been thought that, under this name, worship was paid to Juno. The priest of Fecundity was called Lupercus; and to him one of the artful and indecent superstitions of paganism ascribed the power of rendering women fertile, by strapping them, whie in a state of nudity, with thongs made of goat skin!

On coins of the Augustae, Fecundity appears as a matron, clothed in the stola, sometimes standing with the hasta pura in her right hand, and supporting an infant in her left; sometimes with a cornucopiae in her left hand, and before her a child, to which she extends her right hand. On others she is seated, with children in her lap, or standing at each side of her; sometimes with one on each arm.

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