Depictions of the personification Pietas (the Roman equivalent of the Greek Eusebia) on Roman coinage was very popular during both republican and imperial eras. Piety personified devotion and represented the proper observance of religion - the duty of not only all citizens, but in particular the duty of the imperial family to fulfill religious and familial obligations. Common depictions of Pietas show her with raised hands, sometimes seated, veiled and often in the company of children, holding a patera (a shallow bowl to pour libations in religious ceremonies), a sceptre or incense box, making a sacrifice or scattering grains on an altar.

During republican times the bust of Pietas frequently adorned the obverses of coins of families who displayed the particular attribute of piety, i.e. the coinage of the gens Herennia (c. 108 BC). Denarii of Metellus Pius (c. 82 BC) portrayed the head of Pietas wearing a necklace and diadem, with sometimes a heron or stork in the field.