Pallor - Goddess of Paleness and FearIn the moment I have discovered my love for
Republican coins again. And indeed we find interesting and exciting depictions. Here I have an example:
The coin:Roman Republic, L. Hostilius Saserna,
gens HostiliaAR -
Denarius, 3.38g, 18.7mm, 35°
Rome, 48 BC
obv. Bare head of
Pallor, with dishavelled hair, falling down, behind a wind instrument
rev. Cult statue of
Diana Ephesus, stg. frontal, laureate, long hair falling down over her
shoulders, long floating garment, resting with raised l, hand on spear and holding with r.
hand stag, stg. l., at antlers
in l.
field SASERNA in a curve upward, r. L.HOSTILIVS downward
ref.:
Crawford 448/3;
Sydenham 953;
Hostilia 4;
Sear Imperators 19;
BMCRR Rome 3996;
SRCV I, 419;
Kestner 3541
scarce,
well centered,
toned, some flat areas
From
Forum Ancient Coins, thanks!
The
rev. of this coin refers to the conquest of Massilia (Marseille) by
Julius Caesar 1 year before at the begin of
his war against
Pompeius after a siege and a naval battle.
Artemis Ephesia was particularly worshipped in Massilia, an ancient Greek foundation, and
had its own temple.
The
obv., the subject of this article, is disputed. Today you often can read that the depicted
portraits of the Hostilius coins represent
Gallia and Vercingetorix. But that the
Romans put on the
obv. of their coins the
portrait of their enemies would be very unusual. I went into the matter and actually these designations came into vogue not before the end of the 19th century, and of cause in
France, when the
French national sentiment was at its height. And naturally coins with the name of Vercingetorix are
selling much better than without, especially today in the time of Asterix.
L. Hostilius Saserna, the moneyer of this coin, was a follower of
Caesar, about whom we sadly know nothing. But it is much more credible that he wants to point out that the genealogy of
his family goes back to the mythical
king Tullus Hostilius. This kind of propaganda we find often on
Republican coins, it was usual and is historically confirmed.
Actually the
obv. shows
Pallor, the goddess of paleness and fear, depicted with dishavelled hair. A 2nd coin of Hostilius Saserna shows
Pavor, the god of dread, depicted with raised hair. Both are attendants of
Mars. Their names are given too to the 2 moons of the planet
Mars, Phobos the greater one, Deimos the other.
Etymology:Pallor (m.), paleness (
Lat.
palleo = to be pale, related to Ahd.
falo =
German fahl), then metaphorical: fear, fright, dread, the
Lat. analog to Greek Deimos.
Stevenson calls her: Goddess of Paleness and Fear.
Pavor (m.), fear, fright, horror (
Lat.
paveo = to tremble, to be frightened),
Lat. analog to Greek Phobos.
Stevenson calls her Goddess of Consternation and Dread.
Panofka assumes that the name of Hostilius (
Lat.
hostilis = hostile) is an allusion to
Mars, such as
Artemis to
Diana Hostilina, a kind of Enyo-Bellona, an archaic goddes of war. He calls the
head with dishavelled hair
Pavor, the
head with raised hair
Pallor (Creuzer).
History:The Hostilii were a plebeian
gens. Their name can't be explained for sure. It is known at the Veneti, the Illyrians, and the Etruscans too. Its great age is testified by Tullus Hostilius, and by the Curia
Hostilia too, the precursor of the Curia
Julia, the assembly hall of the Roman Senate. In the 1st century BC all lines of the
gens seem to be dead. (
Wikipedia)
After
Romulus and
Numa Pompilius Tullus Hostilius was the 3rd Roman
king. He was famous for
his militant attitude. When
Rome has conquered
Alba Longa, the Albans urged the neighboring cities of Veji and Fidena to fight against
Rome. During the battle against Veji and Fidena the Albans, allies of
Rome, left the battlefield and the
Romans came into desperate straits. In this great distress Tullus promised to introduce 12 Salian priests and to erect a temple for
Pavor, god of terror, and a temple for
Pallor, god of fear. The
Romans recovered themselves and caused a crushing defeat to their enemies. Livius writes: There was no Roman battle before which was more horrible than this one (Livius I, 27, 7).
History of Religion:At first glance it seems to be absurd that Tullus promised temples for deities so contrary to warlike
courage. But "pagan superstition" (Jacob
Burkhardt)
had no scruples to consecrate a temple to impiety or to worship obscenity or to erect a temple to "fever" (
Valer.
Max. II, 5, 6). So it is not surprising at all to deify trepidation and hedlessness. The Greek were sacrificing to
Pavor (and
Pallor too) to appease these horrible goddesses at war (
Stevenson). In
Corinth the Oracle
had ordered the introduction of the cult of "Horror (Greek
deima)", in Sparta the cult of "Fear". The Spartans built its
altar near the
Syssition of the Ephores (Plutarch). After the murder of Kylon at the
altar in the temple of
Athena, c.632 BC, (the so-called "Kylonian Sacrileg", the Athenians consecrated altars for "Outrage" and "Lack of Shyness" for expiation (Jacob
Burkhardt).
Wether Tullus has de facto erected the promised temples is not known. We have no further evidence, and because in a parallel report of Dionysios from Halikarnassos they are not mentioned, it seems to be at least doubtful (Wissowa).
History of Literature:Already at
Homer (Il. 4, 440) Demos and Phobos belonged to the demonic entourage of Ares. They accompanied him and harnessed
his horses (Il. 15, 119). At Hesiod they appear as sons of Ares and Aphrodite. Antimachos regarded them as the horses of Ares, coming from
Thyella (bride of the wind), probably in misunderstanding the scene at
Homer. This is true for
Valerius Flaccus too in
his Argonautika. At Nonnos they both are sons of Enyalios, an epiklesis of Ares. Here they are additionally assistants of
Zeus in
his combat against the monster Typhon. He has armed them with thunderbolts.
Semos of Delos (FHG 4, 495, frg. 18a) makes Deimos the father of
Skylla by the nymph Krataiis. Beside the
face of Gorgo Deimos and Phobos are depicted on the
aegis of
Athena (Hom. Il. 5, 739), and on the
shield of Agamemnon (Il. 11, 37). At Quintus of
Smyrna they are found on the
shield of
Achilles beside the war goddess Enyo and Eris.
At Apuleius (
met. 10, 31) the
personifications Metus (fear) and Terror appear.
In ancient poetry Ovid (Ov.
met. 4, 485) calls Luctus (misery),
Pavor (horror) and Terror (fear) attendants of Tisiphone, messenger of evil.
Paleness is an usual sign of death. Horaz in
his famous carmen (
Lib. I.IV) writes:
pallida mors aequo pulsat pede pauperum tabernas / regumque turris (The pale death knocks with equal pace on the huts of the
poor and the castles of the kings)
History of Art:In classic art both were depicted as inconspicous youths where Phobos sometimes has a lion's
head or is given a leontine mane. Depictions which could destinctly be identified as Deimos are unknown, in contrast to Phobos.
I have added:
(1) A wall painting (fresco) from Pompeij from the House of
Mars and
Venus, 1st century AD, today in the National Archaeological Museum in Naples. It shows Aphrodite leaning backward in the arms of her lover Ares, and the winged love god
Eros and Phobos, playing with arms of the god (theoi.com)
(2) A mosaic fom the villa in Orbe-Bosceaz (Waadt/Switzerland) from the 3rd century AD, showing Ares with
shield, spear and helmet, accompanied by Phobos and
Nike (theoi.com)
(3 A mosaic from Halikarnassos from the 4th century AD, today in the British Museum. It shows Phobos with wide open eyes, mouth opened for a cry and leontine mane (theoi.com)
Explanations:(1)
Ephores: "Supervisors", 5 officials in ancient Sparta, which were elected each year. Eligible was each free citizen. This office probably was introduced as counterweight to the powerful
Gerousion (Council of Elders)
(2)
Epiklesis: Surname or cult name of a deity, by which a special feature of the deity was invoked.
(3)
Syssition: Daily table fellowship of the
Ephores. This should strengthen solidarity and the love for the polis.
Note:There are numismatists too, who see in the
portraits depicted on the coins of Hostilius the image of a female captive and on the other ("Vercingetorix") the image of a male captive, without giving them an individual name. Andrew McCabe, our approved specialist for
Republican coins in the
Forum, has suggested the following: May be all this is true: Pallor/Pavor, a Gallic captive, or Gallia/Vercingetorix. So each Roman could select
his favourite conception. Such playing around with different meanings was very popular among the
Romans.
Sources:(1) Hesiod, Theogony
(2)
Homer, Ilias
(3) Ovid, Metamorphoses
(4) Nonnos, Dionysiaka
(5) Apuleius, Metamorphoses
(6) Livius, Ab urbe condita
(7) Horaz, Carmina
(8) Plutarch, Kleomenes
(9)
Julius Caesar, De bello Gallico
Secondary Literature:(1) Abhandlungen der Königlich Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1841 (books.google.de)
(2) Georg Friedrich Creuzer, Symbolik und Mythologie der alten Völker: besonders der Griechen, 1842
(3) Jacob Burckhardt, Griechische Kulturgeschichte, 1898-1902, Neuausgabe 2014 (books.google.de)
(4) Georg Wissowa, Handbuch der klassischen Altertumswissenschaft, 1902 (books.google.de)
(5) Benjamin Hederich, Gründliches mythologisches Lexikon, 1770 (online too)
(6) Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher, Ausführliches Lexikon der griechischen und römischen
Literatur, 1886-1937 (online too)
(7) Seth William
Stevenson, A Dictionary of Roman Coin, 1889, reprint 1964
(8) Der Kleine
Pauly, dtv, 1979
(9) Hans-Joachim Hoeft, Münzen und antike Mythologie, Eigenverlag, 2011
Online Sources:(1)
Wikipedia(2) books.google.de
(3) theoi.com
Best regards