Reverse Symbols: Caduceus

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Caduceus

The caduceus is the wand of Mercury. It is decorated with wings and snakes and is a symbol we still use today which is identified with the medical profession. The Roman god Mercury was the messenger of the gods, equivalent to the Greek god Hermes.

Mercury was not the only god whose attributes included a caduceus. This portrait of Felicitas on the reverse of a silver antoninianus (double denarius) of Philip I shows her holding two of her attributes, a caduceus and a cornucopia. The caduceus is on the left of her image and the cornucopia is to the right. (Since she is facing us, the caduceus is in her right hand and the cornucopia in her left.)

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