Peacocks were kept and bred in large flocks by the Romans, both for pleasure and for profit. In Roman myth and cult the peacock was sacred to the goddess Juno, and became the badge of empresses and other ladies of the imperial house as well as a regular feature on the imperial coinage. The peacock’s tail, circular like the vault of heaven when spread and jewelled as with stars, made the bird a natural symbol of the sky to which the dead ascend and hence of apotheosis and immortality. This particular coin was struck by Valerian I before he ascended the throne, and commemorates the death of his wife Mariniana.