Editing Roma (personification) (section)

==Republican era==
===Identity and iconography===
[[File:0135_-_Roma_-_Piazza_del_Campidoglio_-_Dea_Roma_-_Foto_Giovanni_Dall'Orto,_7-Apr-2008.jpg|thumb|Roma in the Piazza del Campidoglio; adapted from a statue of [[Minerva]] by the addition of weapons, in the modern era]]

A helmeted figure on Roman coins of 280–276 and 265–242 BC is sometimes interpreted as Roma but the identification is contestable.<ref>[http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/sear5/s0025.t.html "Sear Roman Coins & their Values (RCV 2000 Edition) #25"], ''Wildwinds'' (accessed 22 June 2009): but see Mellor 1991, pp. 974–75 for a more tentative approach to early helmeted figures: other possible identities have been speculated, such as [[Diana (mythology)|Diana]] or the Trojan captive Rhome, who may be a mythic-poetic personification of Greek {{lang|grc|ρώμη}} {{lang|grc-Latn|rhome}} (strength). (For Rhome, see Hard, R., Rose, H. J., [https://books.google.com/books?id=XfGw5uYrDMYC&dq=Rhome+Trojan&pg=PA586 ''The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology''], 2003, p. 586.</ref> Other early Roman coinage shows a warlike "[[Amazons|Amazon]]" type, possibly Roma but in Mellor's opinion, more likely a {{lang|la|[[Genius (mythology)|genius]]}} than {{lang|la|[[Religion in ancient Rome|dea]]}} (goddess). During the late [[Second Punic War]] and the [[Pyrrhic War]], Rome issued coins with a [[Phrygian helmet]]ed head; some are stamped {{lang|la|Roma}}. In later coin issues, Roma wears varieties of the [[Attic helmet]], the standard pattern for Roman army officers. In cases where clear coin legends are lacking, identification has been unresolved.  Other female members of Rome's official pantheon were also helmeted, including [[Bellona (goddess)|Bellona]], and [[Minerva]], the latter being equivalent to Greek [[Athena]], who is believed by some scholars to be Roma's original.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Burnett |first1=Andrew |title=The iconography of Roman coin types in the third century BC |journal=Numismatic Chronicle |date=1986 |volume=146 |issue=146 |pages=67–75 |jstor=42667455 }}</ref>

The earliest, more-or-less unequivocal coin identification of Roma is a silver [[stater]] of c. 275 BC issued by Rome's ethnically Greek allies at [[Locri]], on the Italian peninsula. It shows an enthroned woman with shield and other war-gear, clearly labelled as Roma. Another woman, labelled as [[Pistis]] (Greek equivalent to Roman [[Fides (deity)|Fides]], or "good faith"), stands before Roma with a crown of leaves raised above her head. A Roman denarius of 114/115 shows Roma with [[Romulus]], [[Remus]] and the [[She-wolf (Roman mythology)|she-Wolf]], the mythological beast who fostered them, and nourished them with her milk; the coin image implies that Roma has protected and nourished Rome since its very foundation. Her "Amazonian" appearance recalls the fierce, barbaric, bare-breasted Amazons who fought in the [[Trojan War]] alongside the Trojans, supposed ancestors of the Romans. In the late Republican and early Imperial era, Roman literature presents Roma as one of the Roman people's several "Great Mothers", who included [[Venus (mythology)|Venus]] and [[Cybele]].<ref name=Joyce2014/> [[Ennius]] personified the "Roman fatherland" as Roma: for [[Cicero]], she was the "Roman state", but neither of these are {{lang|la|dea}} Roma.<ref>Mellor 1991, pp. 963; 1004–05.</ref> Though her Roman ancestry is possible – perhaps merely her name and the ideas it evoked, according to Mellor – she emerges as a Greek deity, whose essential iconography and character were already established in Italy, [[Magna Graecia]] and Rome.<ref name=Joyce2014/>

===Earliest cults===
[[File:Roman - Coin with Denarius with Roma - Walters 59763 (cropped).jpg|thumb|Roma on a [[denarius]], 93–92 BC ([[Walters Art Museum]])]]

The earliest certain cult to {{lang|la|dea}} Roma was established at [[Smyrna]] in 195 BC, probably to mark Rome's successful alliance against [[Antiochus III]].<ref>Tacitus, ''Annals'', 4.56</ref> Mellor has proposed her cult as a form of religio-political diplomacy which adjusted traditional Graeco-Eastern divine monarchic honours to Republican mores: divine honours to the divine personification of the Roman state acknowledged the authority of its offices, Republic and city, but did not displace local, Greek cult to individual Roman benefactors.{{efn|The Hellenophile general [[Titus Quinctius Flamininus|Flamininus]] was given divine honours jointly with Roma for his military achievements on behalf of Greek allies: Plutarch, [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Flamininus*.html ''Flamininus''], 16 (Bill Thayer, University of Chicago, accessed December 24, 2022), gives the ending lines of what he describes as a lengthy [[Chalcidian League|Chalcidian]] hymn to [[Zeus]], Roma and Flamininus.}}

Democratic city-states such as [[Classical Athens|Athens]] and [[Rhodes]] accepted Roma as analogous to their traditional cult personifications of the {{lang|grc|demos}} (ordinary people). In 189 BC, [[Delphi]] and [[Lycia]] instituted festivals in her honour. Roma as "divine sponsor" of athletics and pan-Hellenic culture seems to have dovetailed neatly into a well-established and enthusiastic festival circuit, and temples to her were outnumbered by her civic statues and dedications.<ref>Mellor 1991, p. 967.</ref> In 133 BC, [[Attalus III]] bequeathed the people and territories of [[Pergamon]] to Rome, as to a trusted ally and protector. The Pergamene bequest became the new Roman province of [[Asia (Roman province)|Asia]], and Roma's cult spread rapidly within it.<ref>Mellor 1991, pp. 958–959.</ref>

In contrast to her putative "[[Amazons|Amazonian]]" Roman original, Greek coinage reduces the ferocity of her image, and depicts her in the "dignified and rather severe style" of a Greek goddess, often wearing a [[mural crown]], or sometimes a [[Phrygian helmet]]. She is occasionally bareheaded.<ref name="mellor960" /> In this and later periods, she was often associated with [[Zeus]] (as guardian of oaths) and [[Fides (mythology)|Fides]] (the personification of mutual trust).{{efn|The Roman cult to Fides was instituted in the Late Republic: Cicero, {{lang|la|De Natura Deorum}}, 2. 61.}} Her Eastern cult appealed for Rome's alliance and protection. A panegyric to her survives, in five [[Sapphic stanza]]s attributed to the Greek poet [[Melinno]], who claims that she is the daughter of [[Ares]] and celebrates her fierce commitment to her offspring and proteges.<ref>English and Greek versions in Powell, Anton, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZlSCexW2L4QC&dq=Hail,+Roma,+daughter+of+Ares&pg=RA1-PA369 ''The Greek World''], Routledge, 1997, p. 369.</ref>

<blockquote> Hail, Roma, daughter of Ares, golden-belted warlike queen, you whose earthly home is Olympus the eternally unshattered. Ancient Fate gave to you alone the unbroken glory of royal command, so that the strength to rule is in your hands. Under your strong-strapped yoke the chests of the earth and the gray sea are harnessed. You safely steer the cities of the people. And though mighty time strikes down all things and reshapes life into many different forms, for you alone the wind that blows to the uttermost ends of power does not shift. For indeed you bear the strongest great warriors of all, just like the bountiful crop yielded by Demeter's fields.<ref>Melinno, Hymn to Rome, quoted in Stobaeus, Anthology 3.7.12</ref></blockquote>

At this time, her cult in Republican Rome and its Eastern {{lang|la|coloniae}} was virtually non-existent.<ref name="Mellor, 972">Mellor 1991, p. 972.</ref> In her "Amazonian" type, her usually single bare breast signifies the same boldness and fiercely maternal, nurturing virtues.<ref name=Joyce2014/> In [[Hellenistic]] religious tradition, gods were served by priests and goddesses by priestesses but Roma's priesthood was male, perhaps in acknowledgment of the virility of Rome's military power. Priesthood of the Roma cult was competed among the highest ranking local elites.{{efn|In the East – as later in the provincial West – Roma's priests were probably elected.<ref>Mellor 1991, pp. 965–966</ref>}}