Roman Republic - Man. Acilius Glabrio Moneyer -
Silver Denarius 20mm (3.59 grams) Rome mint: 49 B.C.
Reference: B.M.C. 3944; Syd. 922; Craw. 442/1a
Laureate head of Salus right, SALVTIS upwards behind.
MN.ACILIVS III VIR. VALETV - Valetudo (Salus) standing left, leaning against
column entwined with serpent and holding serpent.
* Numismatic Note: The types of Salus and Valetudo are used as
the Acilia gens claimed to have introduced the first physician into Rome. This
type may also be a rare, possibly unpublished type with the serpent entwined
around the column.
You are bidding on the exact
item pictured, provided with a Certificate of Authenticity and Lifetime
Guarantee of Authenticity.
In
Greek and
Roman mythology, Hygieia,
or Hygeia, was a daughter
of the god of medicine,
Asclepius.
She was the goddess of health, cleanliness and sanitation and afterwards, the
moon. She also played an important part in her father's
cult. While her father was more directly associated with healing, she was
associated with the prevention of sickness and the continuation of good health.
Her name is the source of the word "hygiene". The Roman Republic was the phase of the
ancient
Roman civilization characterized by a
republican
form of government. It began with the overthrow of the Roman
monarchy, c. 509 BC, and lasted over 450 years until its
subversion, through a series of
civil wars, into the
Principate
form of government and the
Imperial period.
The Roman Republic was governed by a
complex constitution, which centered on the principles of a
separation of powers and
checks and balances. The
evolution of the constitution was heavily influenced by the struggle between
the
aristocracy, or the
patricians, and other talented Romans who were not from famous families, the
plebeians. Early in its history, the republic was controlled by an
aristocracy of individuals who could trace their ancestry back to the early
history of the kingdom. Over time, the laws that allowed these individuals to
dominate the government were repealed, and the result was the emergence of a new
aristocracy which depended on the
structure of
society, rather than the
law, to maintain its
dominance. Thus, only a revolution could overthrow this new aristocracy.
During the first two centuries, the Republic saw its territory expand from
central Italy to
the entire
Mediterranean world. In the next century, Rome grew to dominate
North
Africa, the
Iberian Peninsula,
Greece, and
what is now southern
France. During
the last two centuries of the Roman Republic, it grew to dominate the rest of
modern France, as well as much of the east. At this point, the
republican political machinery was replaced with
imperialism.
The precise event which signaled the end of the Roman Republic and the
transition into the
Roman
Empire is a matter of interpretation. Towards the end of the period a
selection of Roman leaders came to so dominate the political arena that they
exceeded the limitations of the Republic as a matter of course. Historians have
variously proposed the appointment of
Julius Caesar as perpetual
dictator in 44 BC, the defeat of
Mark
Antony at the
Battle of Actium in 31 BC, and the
Roman
Senate's grant of extraordinary powers to
Octavian
under the
first settlement in 27 BC, as candidates for the defining pivotal
event ending the Republic.
Many of Rome's legal and
legislative structures can still be observed throughout
Europe and the
rest of the world by modern
states
and
organisations. The Romans'
Latin language
has influenced
grammar and
vocabulary
across Europe and the world. |