Salus, personification of the security and welfare of the Roman people

 Salus, personification of the security and welfare of the Roman people, 200-250 CE

Salus was the Roman personification of health and well being, and came to be very closely associated with the Greek goddess Hygieia, the daughter of the healing god Asclepius. She is often represented in works of art with the same attributes as Hygeia – in particular both are frequently depicted with a snake wrapped around one arm. However, they each kept their own separate identities, and served very different functions. While both deities protected individual health, Salus was also responsible for the prosperity of the Roman state and its rulers. In this regard, she personified the security and welfare of the Roman people, and was therefore an especially important deity for the city of Rome. She had a temple and cult on the Quirinal Hill in Rome, and various representations of the goddess appeared on Imperial Roman coins. Because the Getty’s statue is close to life-size, it may have been a cult image that was set up in a public space or a temple. In this setting she would have represented public welfare. Smaller versions of Salus, however, were often set up in domestic spaces and private shrines, where an individual could offered prayers for personal health.

This statue is unique in that the attributes of Salus – the snake and the egg – are combined with images commonly associated with Venus (Greek Aphrodite), the goddess of love. Here Salus is accompanied by Cupid, usually a companion of Venus. Her hairstyle tied in a bow on top of her head is also characteristic of Venus. However, unlike Venus, who is often depicted nude, Salus is represented as a heavily draped goddess. It was not uncommon for Roman goddesses to use a combination of attributes from different deities. Salus was sometimes depicted with a rudder and a globe, which were typical attributes of Fortuna, the goddess of Fortune. However, this statue is the only known example in which Salus and Venus are paired together.  - J. Paul Getty Museum


Image: Salus, personification of the security and welfare of the Roman state, 200-250 CE, courtesy of the Getty Museum


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Imperial Italic G Roman helmet found near Hebron at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem

Image
Imperial Italic G Roman helmet found near Hebron at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. This distinctive Imperial Italic G-style helmet was a 2nd century development derived from the earlier Coolus-style helmets with a domed bowl fashioned after La Tène III helmet types. The original Coolus-style helmets were named after the city of Coolus in northeastern France where a helmet of the Coolus type was dredged from the River Marne. Ro man helmets were typically constructed of a copper alloy or bronze. Some were spun on a lathe rather than hammered into shape with a turned, cast-soldered or riveted crest knob. The brow-guard was designed to protect the front of the face from downward-slashing sword blows, just as the neck-guard was intended to deflect blows aimed at the nape of the neck and shoulders. The Hebron helmet is also constructed with post-Dacian Wars crossbars on the crown, thought to have been part of the original construction, as evidenced by the brass lunate decorations applie...
Read more

The iconic kausia hat of ancient Macedon

Image
 While researching artwork of ancient Macedon this morning, I stumbled across an interesting image of a 3rd Century BCE Macedonian wearing a kausia, headgear said by some scholars to be adapted from a style worn in the Hindu Kush during Alexander the Great's campaign there.  Other scholars think the kausia was identified with Macedonia for too long to have been imported from Asia.   Depictions of the kausia can be found on a variety of coins and statues found from the Mediterranean to the Greco-Bactrian kingdom and the Indo-Greeks in northwestern India. The Persians referred to both the rest of the Greeks and Macedonians as "Yauna" (Ionians), but made a distinction between "Yauna by the sea" and those "with hats that look like shields" (yauna takabara), probably referring to the Macedonian kausia hat.  You can see Alexander himself wearing a kausia and fighting an Asiatic lion with his friend Craterus in a late 4th century BCE mosaic from Pella as well...
Read more

Roman and Byzantine mosaics at the Haleplibahçe Mosaics Museum in Şanlıurfa, Turkey.

Image
Roman and Byzantine mosaics at the Haleplibahçe Mosaics Museum in Şanlıurfa, Turkey. Opened in 2015, the modern 6,000 square meter Haleplibahce Mosaic Museum houses the remains of the mosaic pavements of a large Roman villa uncovered during a municipal construction project i n Şanlıurfa, Turkey. Şanlıurfa, also known as Urfa, is built on the site of the ancient Greek city of Edessa. Discoveries include mosaics depicting the life of Achilles, including his mother, Thetis, holding him by the heel and dipping him into the waters of the River Styx, his training by the centaur, Chiron, and his departure for the Trojan War. Another pavement depicts Amazon queens hunting wild beasts. Mosaics from other archaeological areas depict various animals, Ktisis, a figure personifying the act of generous donation or foundation often found in 6th century Greek mosaics, and a 2nd century CE depiction of the myth of Orpheus. The Orpheus mosaic was recently repatriated from the Dallas Museum of Art. ...
Read more