Cook, Arthur B.: Zeus: a study in ancient religion (Band 1): Zeus god of the bright sky (Cambridge, 1914)

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The Blue Globe

the gable of which supports a solar chariot. Iupiter again holds
a sceptre in his left hand, a globe in his right (fig. 15)1. It seems
likely that in the Capitoline temple at Rome Victory still held
her wreath over the head of the god; for not only do coins of
Antoninus Pius and others show the emperor seated on a curule
chair with a globe in one hand and a sceptre in the other2, but
such coins sometimes add a Victory hovering behind him with
a wreath in her outstretched hand (fig. 16)8. Gold coins of the
later Roman emperors frequently exhibit a design of kindred
origin. For example, Valentinianus i and his son sit side by side
holding a starry globe between them, while Victory with spread
wings is seen in the background behind their throne (fig. 17)4.

These representations imply on the one hand that the emperor
has stepped into the shoes of Iupiter, on the other hand that his
duties descend in unbroken succession from occupant to occupant
of the imperial seat. Both conceptions could be further illustrated
from Roman coinage. Frequently from the time of Commodus
to that of Diocletian we find Iupiter delegating the globe to his
human representative (fig. 18)5. Sometimes, as in the case of

1 H. Norisius Chronologica {Opera omnia: tomus secundus) Veronae 1729 p. 338
fig., Eckhel Doctr. num. vet.2 iii. 329, Rasche Lex. Num. ii. 341, Suppl. i. 1626. The
specimen here figured after Norisius is a copper coin of Alexander Severus inscribed
KATTIT60(\6eaw) iep(as) AC(uXou) Ay(rovb^ov) Hp (=the date, reckoned from 97/98 a.d.).
The British Museum possesses a very similar specimen, but in poor preservation.

2 K. Sittl Der Adler und die Weltkugel als Attribute des Zeus (Besonderer Abdruck
aus dem vierzehnten Supplementbande der JahrbiAcher fiir classische Philologie) Leipzig
1884 p. 49.

3 Rasche Lex. Num. x. 1300. The illustration is from a first brass of Antoninus Pius
in my collection, tr pot xv cos 1 in and s c.

4 From a specimen in the P'itzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. See Cohen Monn. emp.
rom? viii. 93 no. 43, Stevenson-Smith-Madden Diet. Rom. Coins p. 867. victoria
avgg and tr • ob •

5 Rasche Lex. Num. iii. 1464, Sittl op. cit. p. 49. The illustration is from a coin of
Probus in my collection, iovi conservat(w2') and vxxt.

Fig. 16.

Fig. 17.