Gallienus, Amalthea, Falerii, Jupiter, Valerian, goat, narrative
It is argued that the significance of the PIETAS FALERI medallions struck under the emperor Gallienus has been seriously misunderstood. They celebrate the piety of the Italian town of Falerii because of the role that it had played in rearing Gallienus rather than the piety of Gallienus himself, identified by the otherwise unattested nickname of Falerius, in raising the harbinger of a new golden age. While the reverse type appears to depict two children, Jupiter and a companion, it really only depicts the child Jupiter twice in a short narrative of two scenes best described as the feeding of Jupiter. None of the many depictions of Amalthea and the child Jupiter on the coinage under the Valerianic dynasty necessarily have anything to do with the concept of a golden age. They are best explained rather as an attempt by the dynasty to persuade the soldiers to see themselves as the foster-parents of the young Valerian II with special responsibilities in the absence of his father.