The patera (plural: paterae) was round shallow dish or bowl used by the Romans in religious ceremonies, either in offering libations of wine to the gods, or in receiving the blood of sacrificial animals. On coins, the patera is placed in the hands of rulers and priests as an attribute of their religious functions and in the hands of deities as a symbol of the divine honors rendered to them. Similar to the Greek phiale.
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A serpent feeding out of a patera is the symbol of the Goddess of Health (Salus).----A patera appears in the right hand of Cybele, of Clementia, of Concordia.----And the Genius of a city holding in his right hand a patera, as in the act of performing sacrifice for the health of the Emperor is a frequent type. We see this in the GENIVS EXERC. ILLYRICIANI of Trajanus Decius; and the GENIVS AVGusti of Gallienus and Claudius Gothicus.
The patera is to be observed in the right hand of IVPITER CONSERVATOR, of Hercules, Juno Conservatrix, Mercury, Patientia, Pietas, &c.; also in the hand of the Emperor sitting, as in Tiberius; and of the Emperor standing, as in Elagabalus.----See INVICTVS SACERDOS.