Crawford 386/1

Moneyer:  L. Cassius Q.f. Longinus, 78 BC. 

Denomination: Denarius

Obverse: Head of Liber to right, wearing wreath of ivy and fruit and with thyrsus over shoulder. 

Reverse: L•CASSI•Q•F Head of Libera to left, wearing wreath of vine leafs.

Reference: Crawford 386/1

Mint: Rome

Weight: 3,90 g

Notes: In ancient Roman religion and mythology, Liber also known as Liber Pater ("the free Father"), was a god of viticulture and wine, male fertility and freedom. He was a patron deity of Rome's plebeians and was part of their Aventine Triad. His festival of Liberalia (March 17) became associated with free speech and the rights attached to coming of age. His cult and functions were increasingly associated with Romanized forms of the Greek Dionysus/Bacchus, whose mythology he came to share.

Libera – Goddess of vegetal fertility, and perhaps also of wine; inne imię Prozerpiny, bogini, która w mitologii rzymskiej wraz z Liberem i Ceres współtworzyła triadę bóstw rolniczych; Proserpina is an ancient Roman goddess whose iconography, functions and myths are virtually identical to those of Greek Persephone. Proserpina replaced or was combined with the ancient Roman fertility goddess Libera, whose principal cult was housed in the Aventine temple of the grain-goddess Ceres, along with the wine god Liber.

In Ancient Greece a thyrsus or thyrsos was a wand or staff of giant fennel (Ferula communis) covered with ivy vines and leaves, sometimes wound with taeniae and topped with a pine cone, artichoke, fennel, or by a bunch of vine-leaves and grapes or ivy-leaves and berries, carried during Hellenic festivals and religious ceremonies.^[1][2] The thyrsus is typically associated with the Greek god Dionysus, and represents a symbol of prosperity, fertility, and hedonism similarly to Dionysus.^[3]

Collezione : 16 Roman Republic