Providentia

This article is about the Roman goddess. For the former fire insurance see Providentia (fire insurance) .

Hadrian's coin, right depicting Providentia

Providentia as the central figure of the thunder fountain

Providentia was a Roman goddess who is only known from inscriptions or from coins in two ways.

She is the embodiment of the divine providence ruling over the emperor and the care of the ruler or the emperor for Rome and for the Romans.

As a woman, she was depicted on the reverse of Roman coins with a scepter and a staff pointing the way to the earth. In Vienna there is a Providentiabrunnen on Neuer Markt , popularly known as the Donnerbrunnen .

In the picture The Great Triumphal Chariot by Albrecht Dürer , Providentia is shown next to Moderatio, the personification of temperance .

literature

• Rudolf Peter: Providentia . In: Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (Hrsg.): Detailed lexicon of Greek and Roman mythology . Volume 3.2, Leipzig 1909, Col. 3187-3189 ( digitized version ).
• Werther Götze: Advice from divine beings, ancient coins brought to life, part 1 . Self-published, Erfurt 1994, pp. 74-75

Individual evidence

1. ^ Extensive lexicon of Greek and Roman mythology by Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher ; Link see literature
2. ↑ The Roman list of gods
3. ↑ Backs of Roman coins. In: antoninian.com. Retrieved August 12, 2016 . 
4. ↑ The great triumphal chariot: Providentia and Moderatio (3rd floor). In: bildindex.de. Retrieved August 12, 2016 . 
5. ^ Image of the great triumphal chariot