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The Seated Goddess


jlueke

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One of the things that intruiges me is the connection of modern

designs to those of the past and the when and the how behind the

osmosis of design. One such example is the seated goddess design.

The US version is pretty easily traced to Britannia and she clearly

has her roots in 2nd century Rome. Rome presents a few more

challenges in tracing the design. It seems to me that the design

originated as seated Baal in the satrapies of Asia Minor. Alexander

III then adopted this design with Zeus replacing Baal and spread it

throughout much of the world. While most of the successor states

adopted their own reverses sooner or later the Seleukids produced a

long series of a seated deity. Back in Rome, Roma can be found

occasionnally on Republican coinage seated on a pile of shields or

weapons. However, under Caligula the Vesta reverses look more like

the inspiration of Britannia under Hadrian and Antoninus Pius. Does

that make sense? Where could Caligula's interest in the reverse

design have started? Was he trying to copy Alexander like when he

made the pontoon bridge and wore his breastplate?

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