Liberalitas

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This aureus by Macrinus celebrates Macrinus and his son Diadumenianus, as well as and their prodigality (LIBERALITAS AUG[USTORUM]). They are depicted in the act of providing for the Romans.

In Roman mythology, Liberalitas was the personification (or Goddess) of generosity.

Liberalitas, the Roman Goddess of Generosity, a mythical personification of the virtue liberality or generousness. A personification isn’t really a deity or goddess, it is rather a symbol much like the Statue of Liberty symbolizes both America and the abstract concept of freedom and liberty. In Roman context, these are the values at the heart of the Via Romana — the Roman Way — and are thought to be those qualities which gave the Roman Republic the moral strength to conquer and civilize the world. Typically Liberalitas is portrayed holding either a tessera or an abacus and a cornucopia. A tessera was a tablet for recording the names of individuals who had received distributions or liberalites from the emperor. The abacus was a counting board. It was also suggested that the article in the right hand may be a scoop for distributing coins. Whichever of these three is correct, all are meant to exhibit the generosity of the emperor.

A cornucopiae of course is a “horn of plenty”, a symbol of abundance generally a wicker container filled with fruits or vegetables. Used since at least the fifth century B.C., it seems to have originated in Greek mythology where Amalthea raised Zeus on the milk of a goat. In return Zeus gave her the goat's horn. It had the power to give to the person in possession of it whatever he or she wished for. This gave rise to the legend of the cornucopia. The original depictions were of the goat's horn filled with fruits and flowers. Greek and Roman deities would be depicted with the horn of plenty, which was especially associated with the Roman Goddess Fortuna (Greek Tyche).

Of course for the masses receiving largesse from the Emperor or going to the theatre of Colosseum was a hallmark of liberalness, or liberality, of Roman rule. The term “tessera” was also used to denote the individual tiles (usually in the shape of a cube) which made up a mosaic. The term was also used as the name for gambling dice. There are also some very well-known depictions of Liberalitas on the reverse side of Roman coinage of the first through third centuries in connection with a ceremony in which the emperor distributed money to the citizenry known as Congiarium. On such coinage the ceremony is usually commemorated with an elaborate scene depicting the emperor atop a lofty platform, accompanied by the Goddess Liberalitas.

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