Is The Roman God Virtus A Man Or Women?

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Author	Replies: 11 / Views: 3,390
louisvillekyshop CCF Advertiser United States 1303 Posts	Posted 10/12/2020 9:59 pm It does say her and this is quite a figure if it is a man. Trajan, Silver Denarius Rome, 114-117 AD IMP CAES NER TRAIAN OPTIM AVG GER DAC PARTHICO Laureate and draped bust of Trajan to right. Rev. P M TR P COS VI P P S P Q R Helmeted Virtus standing right, holding spear in her right hand and parazonium in her left. Cohen 272. RIC 353. 18 mm, 3.14 grams Edited by louisvillekyshop 10/12/2020 10:00 pm Report this Post to the Staff

Coinfrog Bedrock of the Community United States 94367 Posts	Posted 10/12/2020 10:16 pm The suffix "us" in Latin is masculine, that's all I can add. Report this Post to the Staff
Kamnaskires Pillar of the Community United States 7066 Posts	Posted 10/12/2020 10:19 pm Female according to Numiswiki. https://www.forumancientcoins.com/n...p?key=Virtus Report this Post to the Staff
Gincoin43 Pillar of the Community United States 1543 Posts	Posted 10/12/2020 10:29 pm Quote: The suffix "us" in Latin is masculine, that's all I can add. not in the fourth declension Report this Post to the Staff
louisvillekyshop CCF Advertiser United States 1303 Posts	Posted 10/12/2020 10:32 pm Nero liked him as a man in this one. https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=298021 Report this Post to the Staff
Gincoin43 Pillar of the Community United States 1543 Posts	Posted 10/12/2020 10:48 pm Nero's mother may have made it hard for him to see virtue as feminine, but the word itself is. Report this Post to the Staff
Kushanshah Pillar of the Community United States 1554 Posts	Posted 10/13/2020 03:53 am This question came up recently in another forum. My takeaway from that discussion is as follows. The root of virtus is vir, a masculine noun meaning "man". The addition of the suffix -tu- denoting "quality" always creates a feminine noun, regardless of the root. For students of Latin, the ending of virtus is not "-us", first-declension masculine, but simply "-s", third-declension feminine. A personification shares the gender of the word personified. Therefore, Virtus is the "goddess" (for lack of a better word) of manliness. It is not always obvious that the figure beneath the armor is female. Sometimes the armor is light and the figure rounder, like the op coin of Trajan. When the figure is clearly male, it should be interpreted as the emperor (or Mars) displaying virtus, not as a depiction of Virtus herself. Edited by Kushanshah 10/13/2020 10:06 am Report this Post to the Staff
Coinfrog Bedrock of the Community United States 94367 Posts	Posted 10/13/2020 08:33 am Interesting discussion, I learned a lot here. My one year of Latin was a long time ago! Report this Post to the Staff
maridvnvm Pillar of the Community United Kingdom 2099 Posts	Posted 10/15/2020 08:05 am Virtus is depicted with right breast bared and is thought to be a female personification. Report this Post to the Staff
Finn235 Pillar of the Community United States 6130 Posts	Posted 10/16/2020 10:48 am Coins with VIRTVS reverse legends don't always portray female entities, although I guess it's up for debate as to whether the figure is intended to be Virtus or someone else. My Galba Virtus has a male on the reverse You can infer it from the body proportion in my example, but on nicer specimens you can 100% unambiguously make out the male bits. I don't have any specimens handy, but on some 3rd century coins with VIRTVS AVG legends or similar, the figure appears to be Mars, and in nicer specimens you can clearly see a beard. Report this Post to the Staff
maridvnvm Pillar of the Community United Kingdom 2099 Posts	Posted 10/16/2020 6:06 pm Here are some Virtus coins of Septimius Severus with Right breast exposed Report this Post to the Staff
sel_69l Bedrock of the Community Australia 21786 Posts	Posted 10/16/2020 6:57 pm Gincoin43's comment is humorous. That is a virtue. I guess it didn't matter too much to the Romans what gender Virtue may have been. Report this Post to the Staff
	Replies: 11 / Views: 3,390

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