Abstract
Divine patrons of the Roman civitas included a group of personified goods closely associated with a person of princeps. Sacred character of those ‘small’ divinities was marked with the epithet of Augusti. In the 1st century AD, the official pantheon of the Roman state started to include a whole group of numina responsible for security and collective wellbeing: Salus who had been known earlier was joined by Securtitas, Tutela (as a guardian of imperial family) and Tranquillitas. In the 2nd century, the latter goddess personifying tranquility started to appear on coins. Her attributes suggest some relation to seas and food supply emphasizing a tendency to stability and prosperity. In the 3rd century, Tranquillitas, in spite of the crisis, remained a symbol of quirites’ security, at least in regard to supply with grain and clean water. The respective legend, which existed during the reign of Philippus and Tacitus, should be considered as a promise of pacification and return to the time of ‘good emperors’. The slogan of Beata Tranquillitas, which appeared in the 4th century, was not accompanied with the goddess’ profile. This change may be interpreted not only as the evidence of winning Christianity. The Blessed Tranquility, which appeared under the dynasty of Constantine the Great, should probably be considered as the good provided by the emperor as a military leader. This ideological message is radically diff erent from the meaning of dea Tranquillitas before the Dominate. The author of the article believes that the worship of personified Tranquillitas expressed in coins represented a branch of imperial propaganda that was developing within the framework of idea about the food supply of Roman citizens. Under the Antonines and later, Tranquillitas supplemented functions of other divine virtues. It served as a central link in the functional chain represented by Abundantia–Annona– Tranquillitas–Providentia–Securitas. The benefits arranged in such order symbolized a peculiar cycle of grain logistics from growing and cropping to timely delivery to consumers, which represents the essence of food security of any state.
Keywords
Roman religion, Roman Empire, Roman coins, Security, Tranquility, agricultural production, food supply.