Philip I ‘the Arab’ Silver 247AD Ancient Roman Coin Salus Health Cult i52302

Item: i52302

Authentic Ancient

Coin of:

Philip I
‘the Arab’ –
Roman Emperor
: 244-249 A.D. –
 Silver Antoninianus 25mm (3.66 grams) Rome mint: 247 A.D.
Reference: RIC 46b, C 209
IMPMIVLPHILIPPVSAVG – Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right.
SALVSAVGG – Salus standing right, holding and feeding snake.

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In
Greek
and
Roman mythology
, Hygieia (also Hygiea
or Hygeia, Greek Ὑγιεία or
Ὑγεία, Latin Hygēa or Hygīa),
was the daughter of the god of medicine,
Asclepius
, and
Epione
. She was the goddess/personification of
health, cleanliness and sanitation.

Hygieia
and her five sisters each performed a facet of
Apollo
‘s art: Hygieia (“Hygiene” the
goddess/personification of health, cleanliness, and sanitation),
Panacea
(the goddess of Universal remedy),

Iaso (the goddess of recuperation from illness),
Aceso
(the goddess of the healing process).

Hygieia 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“.
She was imported by the Romans as the Goddess Valetudo, the goddess of personal
health, but in time she started to be increasingly identified with the ancient
Italian goddess of social welfare,
Salus
.

History

At Athens, Hygieia was the subject of a local cult since at least the 7th
century BC. “Athena Hygieia” was one of the cult titles given to
Athena
, as Plutarch recounts of the building of
the Parthenon
(447-432 BC):

However, the cult of Hygieia as an independent goddess did not begin to
spread out until the
Delphic oracle
recognized her, and after the
devastating
Plague of Athens
(430-427 BC) and in Rome in
293 BC.

In the 2nd century AD,
Pausanias
noted the statues both of Hygieia and
of Athena Hygieia near the entrance to the
Acropolis
of Athens.

Worship

Hygieia’s primary temples were in
Epidaurus
,
Corinth
,
Cos
and Pergamon
.
Pausanias
remarked that, at the Asclepieion
of Titane
in
Sicyon
(founded by
Alexanor
, Asclepius’ grandson), statues of
Hygieia were covered by women’s hair and pieces of
Babylonian
clothes. According to inscriptions,
the same sacrifices were offered at
Paros
.

Ariphron
, a Sicyonian artist from the 4th
century BC wrote a well-known

hymn celebrating her. Statues of Hygieia were created by
Scopas
,
Bryaxis
and
Timotheus
, among others, but there is no clear
description of what they looked like. She was often depicted as a young woman
feeding a large snake that was wrapped around her body or drinking from a jar
that she carried. These attributes were later adopted by the
Gallo-Roman
healing goddess,
Sirona
. Hygieia was accompanied by her brother,
Telesphorus
.

The
Pythagoreans

called the pentagram ὑγιεία Hugieia (“health”); also the Greek goddess of
health, Hygieia

and saw in the pentagram a mathematical perfection.

Salus (Health) a Goddess of the Romans, the same that was worshipped under
the name of Hygiea by the Greeks, who feigned her to be the daughter of
Asclepius and of Minerva. On a denarius of the Acilia family appears the head
of the goddess and on the reverse a female standing with a serpent in her hand.
The types of this divinity on imperial coins most frequently present to view a
woman clothed in the stola; sometimes
she is sitting, at others standing; in others in a recumbent posture, with a
serpent either on her right or her left arm in a quiescent state, rising in
folds or entwined round an altar before her, and receiving food from a patera,
which she holds in her extended hand. It is in this form (which was doubtless
that of her statues and with these symbols) that she is exhibited on most coins
on the imperial series from Galba to Maximianus. She had a celebrated temple at
Rome, painted, it was said, by Q. Fabius, who thence was surnamed Pictor (the
painter) . – There appears to be some affinity between this personification of
Salus, when offering food in a patella to a serpent, and the Lanuvian virgin
represented in the same act on coins bearing the head of Juno Sospita. – The
opinion also has the probability on the face of it, which refers the serpent on
coins, where mention is made of Salus Augusti, or Augustorum, to Aesculapius and
his daughter Hygaeia (or Salus) as deities of Health. – Certain it is that when
those sanitary divinities, and especially when Dea Salus, occur on coins of
Emperors, they indicate that those princes were labouring at the time under some
diseases; on which account, it would seem, sacred rites had been performed for
them and the memorial of the event recorded on public monuments

Marcus

Julius Philippus or Philippus I Arabs (c. 204–249), known in

English

as Philip the Arab or formerly (prior to World War II) in

English as Philip the Arabian, was a

Roman

Emperor
from 244 to 249.

//

Little is known about Philip’s early life and political

career. He was born in

Shahba
, about

55 miles southeast of

Damascus
,

in the

Roman province

of

Syria

. Philip has the nickname “the Arab” because he had family who had

originated in the

Arabian peninsula

, believed to be distant descendants of the prestigious

Baleed family of Aleppo

. Philip was the son of a Julius Marinus, a local Roman citizen,

possibly of some importance. Many historians^[1][2][3]

agree that he was of Arab descent who gained

Roman citizenship

through his father, a man of considerable influence. Many

citizens from the provinces took Roman names upon acquiring citizenship. This

makes tracing his Arabic blood line difficult. However, it is documented that

Rome used the

Ghassan

tribe from the

Azd of

Yemen
as vassals

to keep the neighboring northern Arabs in check.

The name of Philip’s mother is unknown, but sources refer to

a brother,

Gaius Julius Priscus

, a member of the

Praetorian guard

under

Gordian

III
(238–244). In 234, Philip married

Marcia Otacilia Severa

, daughter of a Roman Governor. They had two children:

a son named Marcus Julius Philippus Severus (Philippus

II) in 238 and according to numismatic evidence they had a daughter called

Julia Severa or Severina, whom the ancient Roman sources don’t mention.

Philip became a member of the

Pretorian Guard

during the reign of the emperor

Alexander Severus

, who was a Syrian. In ancient Rome the Pretorian Guard was

closely associated with the emperor, serving among other things as the emperor’s

bodyguard.

 Political

career

In 243, during

Gordian

III
‘s campaign against

Shapur I
of

Persia, the

Praetorian prefect

Timesitheus

died under unclear circumstances. At the suggestion of his

brother Priscus, Philip became the new Praetorian prefect, with the intention

that the two brothers would control the young Emperor and rule the Roman world

as unofficial regents. Following a military defeat, Gordian III died in 244

under circumstances that are still debated. While some claim that Philip

conspired in his murder, other accounts (including one coming from the Persian

point of view) state that Gordian died in battle. Whatever the case, Philip

assumed the purple following Gordian’s death. According to Edward Gibbon:

His rise from so obscure a station to the first dignities

of the empire seems to prove that he was a bold and able leader. But his

boldness prompted him to aspire to the throne, and his abilities were

employed to supplant, not to serve, his indulgent master.

Philip was not willing to repeat the mistakes of previous

claimants, and was aware that he had to return to

Rome in order to

secure his position with the

senate

. He thus travelled west, after concluding a peace treaty with Shapur

I, and left his brother Priscus as extraordinary ruler of the Eastern provinces.

In Rome he was confirmed

Augustus

, and nominated his young son

and heir.

Philip’s rule started with yet another

Germanic

incursion on the provinces of

Pannonia

and the Goths

invaded Moesia

(modern-day Serbia

and Bulgaria
)

in the Danube

frontier. They were finally defeated in the year 248, but the

legions

were not satisfied with the result, probably due to a low share of the plunder,

if any. Rebellion soon arose and

Tiberius

Claudius Pacatianus
was proclaimed emperor by the troops. The uprising was

crushed and Philip nominated

Gaius Messius

Quintus Decius
as governor of the province. Future events would prove this

to be a mistake. Pacatianus’ revolt was not the only threat to his rule: in the

East, Marcus Jotapianus

led another uprising in response to the oppressive rule of

Priscus

and the excessive taxation of the Eastern provinces. Two other

usurpers, Marcus Silbannacus

and

Sponsianus
,

are reported to have started rebellions without much success.

In April

A.D.

248 (April 1000

A.U.C.

), Philip had the honour of leading the celebrations of the one

thousandth birthday of Rome, which according to tradition was

founded

in 753 BC by

Romulus

. He combined the anniversary with the celebration of Rome’s alleged

tenth saeculum
.

According to contemporary accounts, the festivities were magnificent and

included spectacular games,

ludi saeculares

, and theatrical presentations throughout the city. In the

coliseum, more than 1,000 gladiators were killed along with hundreds of exotic

animals including hippos, leopards, lions, giraffes, and one rhinoceros.

The events were also celebrated in literature, with several publications,

including

Asinius Quadratus

‘s History of a Thousand Years, specially prepared

for the anniversary.

Despite the festive atmosphere, discontent in the legions was

growing. Decius

(249–251) was proclaimed Emperor by the Danubian armies in the spring of 249 and

immediately marched to Rome. Philip’s army met the usurper near modern

Verona

that summer. Decius won the battle and Philip was killed sometime in

September 249,

either in the fighting or assassinated by his own soldiers who were eager to

please the new ruler. Philip’s eleven-year-old son and heir may have been killed

with his father and Priscus disappeared without a trace.

 Religious

beliefs

Some later traditions, first mentioned in the historian

Eusebius

in his

, held that Philip was the first

Christian

Roman emperor. This tradition seems to be based on reports in

Eusebius that Philip allegedly had once entered a Christian service on Easter,

after having been required by a bishop to confess his sins. Later versions

located this event in Antioch.

However, historians generally identify the later Emperor

Constantine, baptised on his deathbed, as the first Christian emperor, and

generally describe Philip’s adherence to Christianity as dubious, because

non-Christian writers do not mention the fact, and because throughout his reign,

Philip to all appearances (coinage, etc.) continued to follow the

state religion

.

Critics ascribe Eusebius’ claim as probably due to the tolerance Philip showed

towards Christians.

Saint Quirinus of Rome

was, according to a legendary account, the son of

Philip the Arab.