10 Facts About Pietas

Pietas extended toward "parents" in the sense of "ancestors, " and was one of the basic principles of Roman tradition, as expressed by the care of the dead.

Pietas allowed a person to recognize the divine source of benefits conferred.

Pietas held importance in international relations and diplomacy, where the credibility of a commander was dependent on his cessation of all self-gain and to commit to the cause, without action of treachery.

Pietas was represented on coin by cult objects, but as a woman conducting a sacrifice by means of fire at an altar.

Pietas is first represented on Roman coins on denarii issued by Marcus Herennius in 108 or 107 BC.

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Pietas appears on the obverse as a divine personification, in bust form; the quality of pietas is represented by a son carrying his father on his back; the symbolism of which would be echoed in Virgil's Aeneid, with Aeneas carrying his father Anchises out of the burning Troy.

Pietas is among the virtues that appear frequently on Imperial coins, including those issued under Hadrian.

Pietas was the divine presence in everyday life that cautioned humans not to intrude on the realm of the gods.

Temple to Pietas was vowed by Manius Acilius Glabrio at the Battle of Thermopylae in 191 BC.

Pietas was often depicted as goddess on the reverse of Roman Imperial coins, with women of the imperial family on the obverse, as an appropriate virtue to be attributed to them.