to members of Roman Imperial houses is furnished by the inscription
(fig. 29) in the lower part of Case 98. It formed the front of a
marble altar, and is dedicated to the Imperial Fortune by a freedman
named Antonius, who was in charge of the "Department of Petitions,"
for the safe return of the Emperor Septimius Severus, his wife
Julia Domna, and his sons Caracalla and Geta. But so far as Geta was
concerned, the Imperial Fortune was not propitious. He was murdered by
his brother Caracalla, and his name was erased from this, as from all
other inscriptions throughout the Roman Empire, by Caracalla's edict.
The date of the inscription is about 200 A.D.
In Case 102 is an altar (No. =85=) dedicated to the Bona Dea
of Anneanum (a town in Etruria) by C. Tullius Hesper and Tullia
Restituta. The Bona Dea was a goddess specially invoked by women.
Hence we may suppose that it was Tullia Restituta more particularly
who showed her thankfulness by this dedication.
In Case 98 are two examples (Nos. =86=, =87=) of a combined lamp and
altar, for use in domestic shrines, probably of late Roman date.[18]
In one of these the basin for libations is supported on a pine-cone.
Akin to these is the small limestone cone and altar from the
Cyrenaica.
No. =88= (fig. 30) is a bronze representing an attendant leading a
pig to sacrifice. The pig (as well as the sheep and the bull) was a
favourite sacrificial animal among the Romans. At the lustral ceremony
of the _suovetaurilia_, the bull, sheep, and pig were driven round
the farmer's fields to keep them free from blight and disease. Certain
deities, notably Persephone and the Bona Dea, had swine as their
special victims. In Case 105 will be seen a terracotta votive pig (No.
=89=) found in the precinct of Demeter and Persephone at Knidos.
[Illustration: FIG. 30.--ATTENDANT DRIVING PIG TO SACRIFICE (NO. 88).
Ht. 4 in.]
In Case 98 is an elaborate model in terracotta of a temple laver from
Cyprus (No. =90=). In Case 100 is a terracotta model of a sacred table
(No. =91=, fig. 31), set with a service of vessels for the sanctuary.
[Illustration: FIG. 31.--TABLE WITH SERVICE OF VESSELS (NO. 91). 2:3.]
_Bronze Implements._--A series of early Italic bronze implements (No.
=92=), may have been used in sacrifice. Those with the curved claws
were probably used for taking boiled meats out of a caldron. They
remind us of the five-pronged sacrificial forks mentioned in Homer,
and of the custom of the Jewish priests' servants as described in the
Book of Samuel: "The priest's servant came, while the flesh was in
seething, with a fleshhook of three teeth in his hand; and he struck
it into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; all that the fleshhook
brought up the priest took therewith."[19] On the right are three
bronze gridirons. These, like the fleshhooks, originally had wooden
handles inserted into their sockets. The meat was spitted upon hooks,
which only remain in one instance.
A series of implements terminating in a hand bent at the knuckles (No.
=93=), and a pair of tongs on wheels (No. =94=), are probably meant
for manipulating embers.
_Miscellaneous._--A small silver model of a temple key is shown in
Case 100. The small alabaster statuette of a goddess with turreted
crown (No. =95=) is of special interest from the fact that her mouth
and breasts are pierced, evidently with the object of allowing some
fluid, such as milk or wine, to flow from them for the edification of
her votaries. A jar (No. =96=) contained perhaps the honey syrup, used
in Egypt for feeding the sacred crocodiles.
[Illustration: FIG. 32.--THE DIOSCURI COMING TO THE THEOXENIA (NO.
98).]
_Religious Rites._--_Prayer._--The fifth century kylix (No. =97=)
shows the gesture of the raised right hand, often used in prayer. The
young athlete, whose oil-flask hangs behind him, is probably praying
before the altar. That athletes entered upon their tasks with extreme
seriousness is clear from the oath taken by them before the image of
Zeus in the Council House at Olympia, when they swore upon the cut
pieces of a boar that they would be guilty of no foul play. In the
Greek view athletics and religion were very closely connected.
_The Lectisternium_, or Theoxenia, was the ceremony in which a banquet
was set, and the gods were invited to attend. It is illustrated by the
drawing of a lekythos (No. =98=) from Kameiros in Rhodes (about 500
B.C.), which represents the two gods Castor and Pollux descending
from heaven on horseback to take part in the festival of the Theoxenia
(fig. 32). This feast, indicated by the couch on which they were to
recline, was given in honour of the twin gods. Such a festival well
illustrates the perfectly human interests which the Greeks attributed
to their deities.
Compare with this vase the cast (No. =99=) of a relief in the Louvre,
from Larissa. A man and his wife, the dedicators of the relief, are
represented as having set out a couch, a banquet of cakes, and an
altar. The Twins descend, heralded by Victory. Beside the relief is
a fragment of a lamp (No. =100=) incised with a dedication to the
Dioscuri, that is, to Castor and Pollux. Here also is the inscribed
base (No. =101=) of a statuette dedicated to the Dioscuri by Euarchos
(sixth century B.C.).
_Augury._--Passing now to Italic religious ceremonies, we may notice
the archaic bronze statuette of an augur (No. =102=), whose function
it was to draw omens from the aspect of the heavens or the flight
and cries of birds. He wears a cloak drawn veil-wise over his head,
a common religious garb, and in his right hand holds the _lituus_
or curved wand used for the ceremonial dividing of the heavens into
quarters. In connection with this statuette mention should be made of
an early Greek inscription (No. =103=) in the bottom of Cases 95-96.
It was found at Ephesus, and is probably of about the same period as
the statuette, the sixth century B.C. It gives rules for drawing lucky
or unlucky omens from the flight of birds. The principal signs are the
flight from right to left or _vice versa_, and the raising or lowering
of the bird's wing.
[Illustration: FIG. 33.--APHRODITE WITHIN A SHRINE (NO. 104). Ht.
2-1/2 in.]
_Shrines._--In Cases 100, 101 a series of terracotta shrines is
exhibited. They were doubtless for household use, employed in much the
same way as modern images of the Madonna. No. =104= (fig. 33), from
the early Greek settlement of Naukratis, in the Nile Delta, shows
Aphrodite within a shrine supported by figures of the Egyptian god
Bes, a characteristic combination of Greek and Egyptian elements. No.
=105=, from Amathus, in Cyprus, is also semi-Egyptian in character,
and shows a deity surmounted by a winged solar disk. Another shrine
from Naukratis (No. =106=) contains the sacred Apis-bull of the
Egyptians. No. =107= is an example of a shrine containing a baetylic
image, that is, a stone worshipped as sacred. A cone resembling the
one here shown was worshipped in the temple of Aphrodite at Paphos in
Cyprus. In front, a small lead model shrine (No. =108=) of later date,
from Sardinia, represents Aphrodite just risen from the sea-foam and
wringing out her hair. The circular shrine (No. =109=; fig. 34) is of
Roman date, from Eretria in Euboea. Its form and more especially the
indication of overlapping scale-plates on the roof remind us strongly
of the famous temple of Vesta at Rome.
[Illustration: FIG. 34.--TERRACOTTA MODEL SHRINE (NO. 109). Ht. 4 in.]
In Case 101 is a bronze tablet with an iron chain and staple (No.
=110=). The tablet, apparently of about 200 B.C., is inscribed on both
sides, and seems to give a list of statues of deities, some, such as
Vezkei, peculiar to the Samnites, others, such as Ceres and Hermes,
of widely spread worship. It is a most important monument of the Oscan
dialect, a language spoken by the early Italic tribes whose chief
centre was the mountainous country above Campania. It was found at
Agnone (Bovianum Vetus) in the Samnite territory.
=Votive Offerings.=
A votive offering is a present made to a deity, in order to secure
some favour for the future, to avert anger for a past offence, or to
express gratitude for a favour received. This last purpose includes
offerings made in fulfilment of a vow, the vow being a kind of
contract between the individual and the god. This comes out most
clearly in the Roman expression _voti reus_--"condemned to pay a
vow"--applied to those whose prayer had been granted, and who now had
to fulfil their promise made in time of stress and difficulty. Votive
offerings cover the whole field of life, and may include persons,
lands, buildings, or objects specially appropriate either to the god
or to the person who makes the dedication.
Very frequently the vow was made by some person stricken with disease,
and it is to such a cause that we owe the numerous votive offerings
representing some part of the human body.
The constant streams of these offerings made the ancient temples
depositories of all kinds of objects, ranging from jewels of great
price and high artistic merit to the roughest terracotta figure. In
the Gold Ornament Room (Case 19) is a magnificent gold pin of the
Ptolemaic period inscribed with a dedication to Aphrodite of Paphos,
showing that the offering was the result of a vow made by Eubule,
the wife of Aratos, and one Tamisa. Overcrowding led to periodical
clearances of objects of the least intrinsic value. To prevent things
dedicated returning to the uses of common life, they were frequently
broken and thrown into heaps. This accounts for the masses of
_débris_, consisting chiefly of terracottas and vases, which have been
found within the precincts of great sanctuaries.
The vast accumulations of treasure in the various temples naturally
demanded careful cataloguing, labelling and supervision on the part
of the temple officials (see examples of marble labels from the
sacred enclosure of Demeter at Cnidos). From time to time elaborate
inventories were drawn up, and (after the manner of ancient documents)
inscribed on stone. Such inventories have been discovered in large
numbers at Delos, Athens, and elsewhere. An example is shown in the
lower part of Case 97, being an inventory (No. =111=) of various
garments dedicated to Artemis Brauronia, who had a shrine upon the
acropolis of Athens. We know that it was the custom of women after
childbirth to dedicate garments to Artemis, and in particular to
Artemis Brauronia. That the garments were often anything but new is
shown by the fact that several are described as "in rags." A typical
extract from the inscription may be given: "A purple dress, with
variegated chequer pattern. Dedicated by Thyaene and Malthake." The
entries range in date from 350 to 344 B.C.
The principal objects here exhibited as illustrating the ancient
custom of dedication may now be mentioned. In Wall-Case 96 is an
inscription of the fifth century B.C. (No. =112=) found in the ruins
of the temple of Poseidon on Cape Taenaron in Lakonia. It records
the dedication by one Theares of a slave named Kleogenes to the
temple-service of Poseidon. The names of an _ephoros_, probably an
official of the temple, and of a witness are added. In some cases the
dedication of a slave to a god is equivalent to enfranchisement.
Among votive offerings specially appropriate to the god, we have
already mentioned the reliefs dedicated for a good voyage (No. =82=)
and the Theoxenia relief (No. =99=). The pedestal (No. =112*=),
with an inscription that it was restored "whether sacred to god or
goddess," is a parallel to the altar inscribed with a dedication "to
an unknown god," which caught the eye of St. Paul when he was viewing
the antiquities of Athens.
In the bottom of Case 102 is the base of a statuette (No. =113=; fig.
35) found at Curium in Cyprus. It bears an inscription, written both
in Greek and in the native Cypriote syllabic characters: "Ellooikos,
the son of Poteisis, dedicated this as a vow to Demeter and the Maid."
The inscription is of the fourth century B.C., and is of special
interest on account of its bilingual character. Two other large
objects in marble of a votive character are exhibited in the bottom of
Cases 103 and 104 respectively. The chest-like stool (No. =114=) was
offered by a priestess named Philis to Persephone, the basket (No.
=115=) by one Xeno to Demeter and Persephone. The basket is dedicated
with peculiar fitness to the goddesses of corn and fruit, for it was
in such woven baskets that the ears of corn were ingathered, while the
chest is also closely associated with Demeter and Persephone, who are
frequently represented seated on it. Both of these last objects were
found by Sir Charles Newton in the precinct of Demeter at Knidos in
Asia Minor.
[Illustration: FIG. 35.--BASE WITH DEDICATION TO DEMETER AND
PERSEPHONE (NO. 113).]
We now turn to the votive offerings personal to the donor, and we
find that not infrequently, where the object itself is perishable, or
otherwise unsuitable as an offering, a sculptured representation takes
its place.
Two curious examples of such dedicatory tablets (Nos. =116=, =117=)
are seen in the casts placed in the upper and lower parts respectively
of Case 101. The originals, from Slavochori, probably the site of
the ancient Amyklae near Sparta, are in the Hall of Inscriptions.
The first was dedicated by Anthusa, daughter of Damaenetos, a [Greek:
hypostatria] or under-tirewoman in the service of a temple, possibly
that of Dionysos, for we know that this god had a temple near Amyklae,
which none but women might enter. On the relief is a series of
objects connected with the toilet, such as a mirror, a comb, a box
of cosmetics, a case containing a sponge, a pair of slippers, etc.
Possibly the dedicator was in charge of objects of this nature. The
other relief, from the same place, was dedicated by a priestess named
Claudia Ageta, daughter of Antipater, and shows a very similar series
of objects. Both these reliefs are of Imperial date.
[Illustration: FIG. 36.--TERRACOTTA MODEL OF THE INTERNAL ORGANS (NO.
122). 1:2.]
[Illustration: FIG. 37.--SCULPTURED LOCKS OF HAIR DEDICATED TO
POSEIDON (NO. 123). Ht. 13-1/2 in.]
A similar substitution of a representation for the object is found
in the series of offerings which commemorate recovery from disease
or bodily injury. The upper part of Cases 103-106 contains a set of
marble reliefs (No. =118=) found at the foot of the Pnyx at Athens,
the rocky semicircular meeting-place of the Athenian people. They are
dedicated by women--Eutychis, Isias, Olympias, and others--to Zeus the
Highest, and have representations of various parts of the human body,
such as eyes, breasts, arms, etc. These reliefs, which are of Roman
date, are clearly thank-offerings for recovery from disease. There
must have been a regular trade in these models, for Clement of
Alexandria, writing about 200 A.D., talks of "those who manufacture
ears and eyes of precious wood and dedicate them to the gods, setting
them up in their temples."[20] No. =119=, from a shrine of Asklepios
in Melos, is a relief representing a left leg, dedicated, as the
inscription shows, by way of thank-offering to the deities of healing,
Asklepios and Hygieia. Next it is a small relief from Cyrene
(No. =120=), showing a right ear. There are several other objects here
exhibited which were probably offered by grateful votaries in return
for healing mercies. Such are the bronze ticket with a bronze leg
suspended from it (No. =121=), inscribed with the name of the donor
Caledus, and two arms with a chain for suspension. In Cases 105 and
106 a whole series of terracotta votive hands, feet, eyes, breasts,
etc., doubtless represents the thank-offerings of the poorer classes.
With these is a curious terracotta model (No =122=; fig. 36) of the
lungs (A), heart (B), liver (C), kidneys (D), spleen (E), and other
internal organs of the human body. Though primarily of a votive
character, it is of considerable interest to the student of ancient
anatomy. A votive relief of rather different character is placed on
the upper shelf. It represents two plaited locks of hair dedicated
(as the inscription records) by Philombrotos and Aphthonetos, sons of
Deinomachos, to Poseidon, god of the sea (No. =123=; fig. 37). It
was a common custom in Greece to dedicate hair at important crises of
life, particularly to deities connected with water. Achilles, on the
death of Patroklos, shore off for him the hair he was growing long as
an offering to the river Spercheios.[21]
[Illustration: FIG. 38.--BRONZE VOTIVE HARE (NO. 124). L. 2-3/4 in.]
Other objects illustrating the frequency and variety of Greek and
Roman dedications may best be described in approximately chronological
order. Two objects, which are more fully dealt with in other sections,
may here be mentioned. In the sixth century B.C. the athlete Exoidas
dedicated to the Dioscuri, patrons of athletic exercise, the
bronze diskos (fig. 50; No. =157=) with which he had conquered "the
high-souled" Kephallenians in athletic contest. The helmet, dedicated
by Hieron after his naval victory off Kyme, has been already described
(p. 8). Other votive helmets are shown in Cases 114-5. For the votive
spearheads (?) see p. 9. The huntsman, no less than the athlete
and the warrior, felt that the gods took an intimate part in his
successes. This is illustrated by the inscribed bronze model of a hare
in Case 103, with its head thrown back in the death agony (No. =124=;
fig. 38). The Ionic letters, of about 480 B.C., read: "Hephaestion
dedicated me to Apollo of Priene."[22] This offering reminds us of
another exhibited in the left-hand wall-case in the Greek Ante-Room
downstairs. A small limestone statuette, found on the site of the
Greek settlement of Naukratis in Egypt, represents a young huntsman
with two boars and two hares slung over his shoulders. It is inscribed
"A dedication by Kallias"--probably to Aphrodite, since it was found
within her precinct (_Cat. of Sculpt._, I., 118).
[Illustration: FIG. 39.--TABLET, WITH DEDICATION BY LOPHIOS (NO. 125).
1:2.]
Other interesting Greek dedications of an early date are the bronze
tablet (Case 105: No. =125=; fig. 39) found in Corfu, with an
inscription showing it to be an offering by one Lophios[23]; the
silver ingot (No. =126=) dedicated to Zeus Lykaeos (Zeus "the
wolf-god") by Trygon; and the elaborate axe-head (No. =127=; fig. 40),
found in Calabria, which bears an inscription recording that it was
vowed to Hera of the Plain by Kyniskos, a "cook," as a tenth of his
earnings (sixth century B.C.).[24]
[Illustration: FIG. 40.--BRONZE VOTIVE AXE-HEAD (NO. 127). Ht. 6-1/2
in.]
The two bronze bulls (Nos. =128= and =129=) are offerings made by
Greeks to an Egyptian deity. They were dedicated by Greeks named
respectively Sokydes and Theodoros, and represent the sacred bull
Apis, worshipped at Memphis in Egypt as an incarnation of the god
Ptah. The offering of Sokydes is here illustrated (Fig. 41).[25]
Notice the elaborate saddle-cloth, and the wings of the Egyptian
scarabaeus and hawk engraved on the bull's back. The date of these
bronzes is the late sixth or early fifth century B.C. The Greeks must
have become acquainted with the worship of Apis in the seventh century
B.C., when they served King Psammetichos I. as mercenaries. That
monarch was a fervent worshipper of the god, and built a great temple
for him at Memphis. Herodotus[26] mentions the courts where the bull
was kept, and says that the Greeks called him "Epaphos." The bull
dedicated by Sokydes was found in the Nile Delta, that dedicated by
Theodoros at Athens.
[Illustration: FIG. 41.--BRONZE VOTIVE BULL (NO. 128). Ht. 4 in.]
The two bronze wheels in Case 103 each bear a votive inscription. The
earlier (No. =130=), said to have been found near Argos, was perhaps
an offering to the Dioscuri (Castor and Pollux, the divine patrons of
athletic contests) by Eudamos, a victor in a chariot race. The other
(No. =131=; fig. 42) comes from the temple of the Kabeiri at Thebes,
and is dedicated by Xenon and Pyrrhippa to Kabeiros and the Child.
The bronze bell (No. =132=, fig. 43) is from the same temple, and
was likewise offered by one Pyrrhias to Kabeiros and the Child. The
Kabeiri were deities of a mystic and subterranean character, who
at Thebes apparently became closely connected with Dionysos, the
wine-god. That a large element of burlesque entered into their worship
can be seen from the vases discovered on the site of their shrine
(Second Vase Room, B 77 and 78).
[Illustration: FIG. 42.--BRONZE WHEEL DEDICATED TO KABEIROS AND THE
CHILD (NO. 131). Diam. 3-7/8 in.]
[Illustration: FIG. 43.--BRONZE BELL DEDICATED TO KABEIROS AND THE
CHILD (NO. 132). 1:2.]
[Illustration: FIG. 44.--SILVER PLAQUE DEDICATED TO JUPITER DOLICHENUS
(NO. 133). Ht. 9-1/2 in.]
Near this tablet are several Roman dedications. Three curious
silver-gilt plaques, probably of the second century after Christ
(Nos. =133-135=), found at Heddernheim, near Frankfurt-on-Main,
were dedicated to Jupiter Dolichenus. At first merely a local god,
originating in the town of Doliche in Commagene, near the Euphrates,
he later acquired considerable popularity throughout the Roman Empire,
and his worship was carried far and wide by the Roman legionaries, who
were largely instrumental in conveying these Oriental worships to the
West. The silver tablet illustrated (No. =133=; fig. 44) shows Jupiter
Dolichenus in a shrine, holding thunderbolt and sceptre, with the
eagle at his feet. The inscription, written in somewhat defective
Latin,[27] runs: "To Jupiter, best and greatest, of Doliche, where
iron has its birth. Dedicated by Flavius Fidelis and Q. Julius
Posstimus by command of the god on behalf of themselves and their
families." As often in late Latin inscriptions, E is written ||.
Another tablet (very fragmentary) shows the god in trappings of
war, holding double-axe and thunderbolt, and standing on a bull (No.
=135=). He is being crowned by Victory. The presence of mines in
North Syria will account for the recurring phrase, "Where iron has its
birth." A series of similar dedications to Mars and Vulcan, which were
found at Barkway in Hertfordshire, is exhibited in the Room of Roman
Britain. Examples are shown in Case 104 of a third series (No. =136=,
fig. 45), part of a great hoard found at Bala Hissar (Pessinus)
in Galatia. These have figures of Helios, Selene, and Mithras. The
last-named deity was the Persian god of light. He did not thoroughly
win his way into the Roman world until the second century after
Christ. But, once established, he proved himself of far-reaching
power. Mithraism had in its ritual many points of resemblance to that
of Christianity, and in the third and fourth centuries after Christ
proved a most formidable rival to the spread of Christian doctrines. A
memorial of Mithras is seen in the large bronze tablet (No. =137=)
in Case 105. Its top is decorated with knife and libation-bowl. The
inscription, of about the third century after Christ, tells us that it
was dedicated to Sextus Pompeius Maximus by priests of Mithras. He had
held offices in the Mithraic priesthood.
[Illustration: FIG. 45.--SILVER PLAQUES DEDICATED TO MITHRAS (NO.
136). 1:3.]