Salus' attributes on Pius sestertius

[Diederik]

The coin that arrived today, is perfectly attributable by RIC number and should therefore not belong under "Identification Help" ; yet there is a question, which I am sure, several of you can answer.
The description of the coin is:
ANTONINVS AVG.PIVS P.M.TR.P.COS III, laureate head right/
DES IIII S.C. Salus standing left, holding patera and rudder set on globe, feeding snake arising from altar.
Salus and her snake belong together and I thought the rudder primarily belongs to Fortuna (Redux) and to Annona, as these personifications  can be linked to seafaring.
How can the rudder (on globe) be linked to Salus?


Frans

[slokind]

I'll stick my neck out.  I appreciate your question.  I think that an altar may be endowed with a snake, irrespective of the deity or personification that accompanies it.  The snake is coiled around, and belongs to, the altar.  On the other hand the rudder propped on a globe belongs to Fortuna, to Tyche, and that is what belongs to the lady.  When Salus has her snake, she almost always holds it, and it often is wrapped around her.  Therefore, I take the reverse type for a Fortuna.  If that entails a different RIC number...we can check later, unless my reasoning is blown out of the water first. 
By the way, a very nice Ant P head on the obv.
Pat L.

[curtislclay]

The same type is explicitly labeled SALVS AVG on sestertii of the preceding issue, dated COS III only, BM 1308, Cohen 715-6; similarly on sestertii of the next issue dated COS IIII, BM 1715-6 pl. 41.1, Cohen 718.

According to Strack III, p. 129, the idea behind the type is that the safety of the state is dependent on the health of the emperor.  "For that reason Salus holds the rudder of Fortuna in some of these types, as an indication that the fate of the empire rests in her hands."

It's an old idea, as attested by the inscription around the honorary shield bearing a facing portrait of Augustus on denarii of the moneyer L. Mescinius Rufus struck in 16 BC:  "[This shield awarded] by decree of the Senate, because the state has been saved by Augustus' recovery from illness," "ob rem publicam cum salute Augusti conservatam."

[slokind]

Unless here we encounter a chasm between Greek and Roman usage, I still would like to understand this better.  Since a figure evidently of Galba can be labeled Virtus, since several images of Venus can be labeled with the names of quite distinct cults, it does seem that unless the Rome mint was using imagery quite at random, it does seem that the figure on this sestertius is plainly a Fortuna, and if the snake is that of Salus, which Salus does feed at an altar, and the concern for the emperor's health,  can, indeed ought to, require his and Rome's Fortuna, a coin with these figures labeled SALVS AVG (on the sestertii of the preceding issue) does not necessarily mean that the figure with the rudder is a Salus.  After all, that winged Nemesis which at least early on is Nemesis-Victory is still a Nemesis.  Here Salus Publica dependent on Rome's Fortuna (and hadn't Pindar said that Tyche was one of the Fates and greater than her Sister Moirai?) is assured by the overarching power of Fortuna.
P.S. I ran across the Pindar fragment in Pausanias.  Don't mean to be argumentative, but interested.
Pat L.

[Diederik]

From a practical/technical point of view, Curtis is right in stating that, when looking at previous and later issues with the exact, or parallel (seated) depiction, the Romans themselves deigned it worthy of Salus.
Patricia, on the other hand, from the historical point of view, rests her case in the fixed attributes and says that the rudder can solely belong to Fortuna and that the depiction should therefore BE Fortuna. Yet she points to the fact that 'cross-over' deities and personifications did occurr.
The symbiosis of the Eastern and Western deities/gods/cults had, mid second century, been accepted throughout the Empire; only to be renewed in the third century by the upcoming Gallic/Germanic local deities, as a result of the increasing number of those kinsmen in the Roman army.
I think we have here a good mixture of two personifications. For the common Roman people, the attributes the nice-looking men and women bore with them, were leading as to whom the effigies represented.
The celators would well have thought over how to attire this woman and they came up with this.
' To the health and good fortune of the state/emperor.'
The common people could have seen this as a combined effort of two personifications and hence doubly important.
I hope that while Patricia stuck out her neck, I am not talking throught the back of it.

Frans


PS
Googeling at 'Salus, rudder, snake'  I found out that the rudder is definitely part of her attributes; her festival is on March 30th, by the way, Let's honour her for all our health and prosperity!

Ave

FD

[curtislclay]

I think the question is pretty much settled by the IDENTICAL TYPE being labeled SALVS AVG in both the preceding and the following issue!

I would say the serpent is indeed characteristic of Hygieia=Salus, and doesn't just "come with the altar".  You won't find a serpent rising from the altar at which Pietas, Concordia, Clementia, or the emperor sacrifices, I think.

Rudder on globe is a general symbol for "control of the world", and is not restricted to Fortuna.  On a denarius of Hadrian, for example, the emperor himself, in military dress, holds rudder on globe and spear, BMC 237, pl. 51.7.