Ancient Rome - 69-79 CE Vespasian AV Aureus NGC XF

69-79 AD Vaspasian AV Aureus, graded NGC Choice XF. Possibly the Spanish mint in Tarraco. Aureus  c. 60-79. Obverse: IMP CAESAR VESPASIANVS AVG Laureate head right. Reverse: COS ITER – TR POT Pax seated left, holding branch and caduceus.

Relief presenting an animal sacrifice, from an altar of the Temple of Vespasian in Pompeii.     

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.