Roman Republic, Denarius

This Roman denarius from the year 62 BC shows Bonus Eventus, the spirit of success. In Roman religion, worshippers and gods entered a kind of contract, with each rewarding the other for favorable treatment. Bonus Eventus was often evoked before journeys and was also a favorite of soldiers.

The object on the reverse is a Puteal Scribonianum decorated with a garland and two lyres. A Puteal was a sacred, open stone building enclosing a holy place. At the base is a hammer, symbol of Vulcan, the god of fire. The puteal depicted on this coin stood on the Forum and had been erected on behalf of the Senate by a certain Scribonius, an ancestor of the issuer of this coin, on the location where a lightening had struck.