# Simpulum

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Simpulum
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Simpulum.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simpulum
> Source revision: 1321668405
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

A **simpulum**, or **simpuvium**, was a small vessel or [ladle](/source/Ladle_(spoon)) with a long handle from the [Roman era](/source/Roman_era), used at sacrifices to make libations, and to taste the wines and other liquors which were poured on the head of the sacrificial victims. The simpulum was the sign of [Roman](/source/Religion_in_ancient_Rome) priesthood, and one of the insignia of the [College of Pontiffs](/source/College_of_Pontiffs).[1]

The simpulum appears on a coin from [Patras](/source/Patras) struck under [Augustus](/source/Augustus). It is placed before the head of [Vesta](/source/Vesta_(mythology)), as a mark of that goddess, on a coin of the [Domitian](/source/Domitian) family, and is seen in the hand of a [Vestal Virgin](/source/Vestal_Virgin) on coins of the [Julio-Claudian dynasty](/source/Julio-Claudian_dynasty). A man in a [toga](/source/Toga) holds a simpulum in his hand on a coin of Antonio Drusi.

The simpulum is commonly shown with the [lituus](/source/Lituus) and other sacrificial and augural instruments, on coins of [Julius Caesar](/source/Julius_Caesar), [Mark Antony](/source/Mark_Antony), [Marcus Aemilius Lepidus](/source/Marcus_Aemilius_Lepidus_(executed_by_Caligula)), [Augustus](/source/Augustus), [Caligula](/source/Caligula), [Vespasian](/source/Vespasian), [Nerva](/source/Nerva), [Antoninus Pius](/source/Antoninus_Pius), [Marcus Aurelius](/source/Marcus_Aurelius), [Caracalla](/source/Caracalla), [Publius Septimius Geta](/source/Publius_Septimius_Geta), [Volusianus](/source/Volusianus), [Saloninus](/source/Saloninus), [Valerianus Minor](/source/Valerianus_Minor#Family), [Domitius Calvinus](/source/Domitius_Calvinus) and [Pontius Pilate](/source/Pontius_Pilate), as well as on many consular and colonial medals.[1]

## References

1. 'A Dictionary of Roman Coins' by Seth William Stevenson, FSA, C.Roach Smith, FSA, and Frederic W Madden, MRSA Published by George Bell & Sons, New York and Covent Garden (1889) pg 749

## External links

- [The Simpulum on Numiswiki](http://www.forumancientcoins.com/NumisWiki/view.asp?key=Simpulum)
- [The Simpulum on the Coins of Pontius Pilate](http://www.numismalink.com/fontanille1.html)

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Simpulum](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simpulum) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simpulum?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.