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Tacitus – Roman Emperor: 275-276 A.D.
Silverd Bronze Antoninianus 22mm (4.21 grams) Ticinum mint:, struck 276 A.D.
Reference: RIC 150; Cohen 72; RIC online 3394
IMP C M CL TACITVS AVG, Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust of Tacitus right.
PAX AVGVSTI, Pax standing left, holding branch and transverse sceptre, mintmark P in exergue.
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.jpg/200px-Statue_of_the_goddess_Pax_(Pavlovsk_Garden,_St_Petersburg,_Russia).jpg) In Roman mythology, Pax (Latin for peace) (her Greek equivalent was Eirene) was recognized as a goddess during the rule of Augustus. On the Campus Martius, she had a temple called the Ara Pacis, and another temple on the Forum Pacis. She was depicted in art with olive branches, a cornucopia and a scepter. There was a festival in her honor on January 3. Daughter of Jupiter and Iustitia. Pax was often associated with spring. This word is of very frequent occurrence on Roman coins, nor is it always possible to decide as to which particular pacification it is to be referred.
Pax, regarded by the ancients as a goddess, was worshipped not only at Rome but also at Athens. Her alter could not be stained with blood. The Emperor Claudius began the construction of a magnificent temple to her honor, which Vespasian finished, in the Via Sacra. Singular to say, no representation of the superb Temple of Peace, built by Vespasian, appears on coins of that Emperor, nor of his son Titus.–See Templum Pacis. The attributes of Peace, as exhibited on medals, are the haste pura, the olive branch, the cornucopiae; and often the caduceus. Sometimes (as on coins of Vespasian, Domitian, and M. Aurelius) she is represented setting fire to a pile of arms.
Peace was considered to be in the power of him, to whom belonged the auspices (auspicia); whence, according to Dion, the Caesars were called the Lords of Peace and War (Pacis et Belli Domini). Accordingly we find coins of the Emperors proclaiming Pax AVGusta, or AVGusti; Pax Aeterna; Pax Perpetua; Pax Fundata; Pax Publica; Pax Ubique Parta; and these inscriptions are accompanied by various symbols such as the Temple of Peace, as on medals of Augustus, or the Temple of Janus shut, as on those of Nero; or a woman holding a cornucopiae in her left hand as in Augustus, Hadrian, &c. The symbol of Eternal Peace, as manifested in the figure of the goddess setting fire to a heap of armor both offensive and defensive, is seen on coins of Galba, Vitellius, Vespasian, Antoninus Pius, and Aurelius, as in Pax Augusti. The head of pax is seen on denarii of Julius Caesar and of Augustus.
 Marcus Claudius Tacitus (ca. 200 – June 276) was a Roman Emperor from September 25 275, to June 276.
He was born in Interamna (Terni), in Italia. He circulated copies of the historian Gaius Cornelius Tacitus’ work, which was barely read at the time, and so we perhaps have him to thank for the partial survival of Tacitus’ work; however, modern historiography rejects his claimed descent from the historian as forgery. In the course of his long life he discharged the duties of various civil offices, including that of consul in 273, with universal respect.
After the assassination of Aurelian, he was chosen by the Senate to succeed him, and the choice was cordially ratified by the army. His first action was to move against the barbarian tribes that had been gathered by Aurelian for his Eastern campaign, and which had plundered the Eastern Roman provinces after Aurelian had been murdered and the campaign cancelled. His half-brother, the Praetorian Prefect Florianus, and Tacitus himself won a victory against these tribes, among which Heruli, which granted the emperor the title Gothicus Maximus.
Tacitus probably died of fever (according to Aurelius Victor, Eutropius and the Historia Augusta) – though Zosimus claims he was assassinated – at Tyana in Cappadocia in June 276.
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