Luna


Luna, the Roman moon-goddess, was worshipped since the time of the legendary king Titus Tatius. In the sixth century BC a temple was erected for her on the Aventine - she also had sanctuaries on the Capitol and Palatine and festivals in her honour were held during March and August each year.

During the Republic Luna frequently appeared as a reverse type on denarii between 211 BC and 170 BC. She is usually depicted driving a biga drawn by horses - sometimes she is shown with a crescent above her head and holding a torch. On imperial coinage she is usually portrayed with a crescent either behind her shoulders or above her head (on antonini the lunar crescent is placed beneath the busts of empresses to distinguish the denomination). Occasionally Luna appears in a quadriga and on the provincial coinage of Alexandria she frequently features as Selene, the Greek lunar goddess.



Divinities
Introduction