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Author Topic: Segetia - Veil or nimbus?  (Read 829 times)

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Offline moonmoth

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Segetia - Veil or nimbus?
« on: August 14, 2009, 03:32:49 am »
I see coins and I have questions ... I am lucky that on Forum, many of them get good answers!  Of course, many of these questions don't have definitive answers, but they benefit from illumination by those with many years or decades of experience.

This is an antoninianus of Salonina, one of an interesting small group of coins showing deities in their temples.  There was also a DEO VOLKANO, showing Vulcan, issued for Valerian, and DEO MARTI, showing Mars, issued for Gallienus.

Segetia was an agricultural deity.  Her temple is shown as moderately decorated, with four visible columns and an arched pediment.  There is a lot of variety in the coins, but most show knobs as acroteria and many show three similar decorations in the pediment.

Segetia herself has something around her head that is sometimes described as a nimbus.  On top of that is usually a V or crescent shape, often offset to our left, described as a crescent moon.

So, my questions about this coin are: Are these descriptions correct?  The crescent moon makes sense for an agricultural deity, and it could just be carelessness that sometimes omits it and often gives it a V shape and offsets it to one side; but all these things together make me wonder. 

The nimbus, on the other hand, could be a veil, like the veil that blows out around Providentia's head on coins of Diva Faustina the elder, which sometimes has stars inside it, showing her wreathed by the cosmos.  Nimbate deities are pretty rare on coins of this period; in fact I don't know of any others, though I certainly do not pretend to complete knowledge of the possibilities.

The thing that looks like an outer semicircle around the head on some of these coins is actually the arch of the pediment.

This coin type does not seem to have been discussed often on Forum - a search shows only the one I posted a few years ago: https://www.forumancientcoins.com/board/index.php?topic=31963.msg205534#msg205534 .

Here is another example, and the relevant sections from three specimens showing the variations:
"... A form of twisted symbolical bedsock ... the true purpose of which, as they realised at first glance, would never (alas) be revealed to mankind."

Offline Gert

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Re: Segetia - Veil or nimbus?
« Reply #1 on: March 28, 2012, 05:37:38 am »
(Found this while preparing a post for my own variant of this type. I will revive it and add a second subject, hoping  this time around there will be some responses).

Firstly, in response to Moonmoth, I am under the impression that the goddess is wearing a veil, not a nimbus, like the more well known rural goddess Demeter/Ceres. Compare my coin, which shows another rendition of the 'veil', and lacks the V-shaped object on top. Moreover, it has a completely different temple front, with a vertical line creating a classical triangular pediment.

Secondly, the main reason I wanted to share this coin: I could only find this coin described as 'both hands raised', yet the goddess on my coin (and on other coins I found in a quick internet search) seems to be holding objects in her hands. A globe (?) in her left, and an object resembling a cross, or a statue in her right. I wonder if anyone has any thoughts on this.

Regards
Gert


 

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