80 AD., Titus, Rome mint, Denarius, Coh. 313.

Titus, Rome mint, 80 AD.,
Denarius (17-18 mm / 2,87 g),
Obv.: IMP TITVS CAES [VESP]ASIAN AVG P M , laureate head of Titus facing r.
Rev.: TR P IX IMP XV COS VIII P P , throne with the lectua or pulvinar of Apollo and Diana, decked with grain-ears.
RIC II (new) 125 ; RIC II (old) 24a (common) ; Coh. 313 .

Lectisternium (lectum sternere). A festival of Greek origin, first ordered by the Sibylline books in 399 b.c. It was held on exceptional occasions, particularly in times of great distress. Images of the gods (probably portable figures of wood draped with robes, and with their heads made of marble, clay, or wax) were laid on a couch (called the lectua or pulvinar). A table was placed before them, on which was laid out a meal, always a free-will offering. At the first Lectisternia, there were three lecti arranged for three pairs of non-Roman divinities: Apollo and Latona, Heracles and Artemis (Diana), Hermes (Mercurius) and Poseidon (Neptune). Afterwards, this sacrifice was offered to the six pairs of Roman gods, who corresponded to the twelve great gods of the Greeks: Juptter, Juno, Neptune, Minerva, Mars, Venus, Apollo, Diana, Vulcan, Vesta, Mercury, and Ceres. These banquets to the gods generally took place at festivals of prayer and thanksgiving, which were called Supplicationes (q.v.), and were performed in the marketplaces or at appointed temples, in which the arrangements for the purpose were on a permanent footing. It was customary to have connected with this a domestic feast, to which both strangers and friends were invited, and in which even those imprisoned for debt were allowed to participate. From the commencement of the 3rd century B.C. a banquet was regularly given to the three Capitoline divinities, Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva, on every 13th of November, in conjunction with the plebeian games. Under the Empire the celebration was on the 13th of September, and was associated with the Roman games. From B.C. 196 it was provided by the College of Epuloncs (q.v.). The images of the three gods were decked with curls, anointed, and tricked out with colours. Jupiter was placed reclining on a cushion, with a goddess on each side of him seated on a chair; and the divinities were invited to a banquet, in which the whole senate participated.

The era Titus witnessed three major calamities. First on 24 August 79 AD, was the eruption of Mount Vesuvius which overwhelmed the towns and villas of Pompeii, Herculaneum, Stabiae, and Oplontis. The following year 80 AD a devastating fire and epidemic of plague broke out in Rome. The above coin was minted in 80 AD, and was part of a series commemorating the supplicatio and lectisternium voted by the Senate after the eruption. As part of the atonement ceremony to seek peace with heaven, sacred couches, pulvinaria, were arranged, each bearing attributes or emblems of the gods. In this particular case of Apollo and Diana.
In contrast, B. Damsky, in "The throne and curule chair types of Titus and Domitian," in SNR 74 (1995), pp. 59-70, after reviewing all the interpretations suggested by various scholars, theorized that this coin, and others minted at the same time, refers not to the ceremony following the eruption, but rather to the occasion for rejoicing and spectacles held in June 80 to inaugurate the completion and opening of the Amphitheatrum Flavium, later called the Colosseum after the colossus of Nero that stood close by.