Ancient Rome - 69-79 CE Vespasian AV Aureus NGC AU in Fine Style

Vespasian, 69-79 A.D. NGC AU, Strike: 5/5 Surface: 4/5, Fine Style. 7.31g. AV Aureus, 71 A.D. Lugdunum Mint. Obverse: laureate head of Vespasian to the right, truncation into and dividing legend; IMP CAES VESPASIAN AVG P M TRP PP COS III. Reverse: Pax-Nemesis advancing to the right, pointing caduceus downward at serpent before her; PACI AVGVSTI. Sources: RIC 297, Cal.655. Vivid details in lustrous fields. About Uncirculated in Fine Style.

Altar of the Temple of Vespasian in Pompeii. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

Pax was the Roman goddess of peace, adopted from the original Greek equivalent Eirene. Pax was said to be the daughter of the Roman king god Jupiter and the goddess Justice. The worship of Pax was developed and made popular during the reign of Augustus, who employed her imagery to assist the stabilization of the empire after years of tumult and civil war in the late Roman republic. It was Augustus who commissioned an alter of peace in her honor, the Ara Pacis.

Later Vespasian constructed a temple to her in 75 AD on the Campus Martius called the Forum Pacis. Vespasian linked the goddess Pax to the god Janus as seen in the building of the temple Janus Quadrifrons near the Forum Pacis. There was a festival held for Pax on January 3. In artwork she is typically presented holding out olive branches and an offering of peace, as well as a caduceus, cornucopia, corn and a sceptre. Pax is often connected with springtime.