A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

a personification of faithful attachment, love, and veneration among the Romans, where at first she had a small sanctuary, but in B. C. 191 a larger one was built (Plin. Nat. 7.36; V. Max. 5.4.7; Liv. 40.34). She is seen represented on Roman coins, as a matron throwing incense upon an altar, and her attributes are a stork and children. Pietas was sometimes represented as a female figure offering her breast to an aged parent. (Val. Max. l.c.; Zumpt, in the Class. Mus. vol. iii. p. 452.)

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