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

Zeus, Dionysos, and the Goat 715

child's head wreathed in vine-leaves and grapes (fig. 532) are
referred by H. Cohen1 to M. Annius Verus, the
infant son of M. Aurelius and the younger Faustina2.
This little fellow died in 169 A.D. after an operation
at Praeneste, when only seven years of age. His
death occurred during the celebration of the games
of Iupiter Optimus Maximus. The emperor would Flg" 532,
not interrupt them, but had statues decreed to the boy, a golden
bust of him carried in procession at the ludi Circenses, and his
name inserted in the chant of the Salii3. With him, or with some
other young hopeful of the imperial house, we may connect a
remarkable bust of rosso antico, now at Berlin (fig. 533, 1—3)*.
It is the portrait of a child represented as the young Dionysos
wearing a garland of ivy and ivy-berries blended with vine-leaves
and grapes. Attached to the child's occiput there is the head
of a calf—an interesting reminder that, despite all the associations
of Greek tragedy5, Dionysos was still regarded from time to time
as no goat but a bull6.

1 Cohen Monn. emp. rotn? viii. 270 no. 31 ' Buste d'un enfant a droite, couronne de
pampre et les epaules couvertes de raisins. (Annius Verus?),' cp. ib. no. 30 ' Buste d'enfant
a droite voile et couronne de roseaux. (Annius Verus?).' I figure a specimen in my
collection.

2 On other coins of M. Annius Verus see Eckhel Doclr. num. vet? vii. 82—87. The
brothers Commodus and Verus were identified with the Kabeiroi of Syros, and their
heads appear on coins inscribed KABIPOON ■ CYPICON {id. ib., cp. Brit. Mus. Cat.
Coins Crete etc. p. 125 f. pi. 28, 7 f., Hunter Cat. Coins ii. 211, Head Hist, num?
p. 492).

3 Iul. Capit. v. M. Ant. philos. 21. 3—5.

4 Ant. Skulpt. Berlin p. 61 no. 134 fig., E. Gerhard in the Arch. Zeit. 1851 ix.
371—373 pi. 33, Welcker Alt. Denkm. v. 39, E. Thraemer in Roscher Lex. Myth. i.
1151, A. W. Curtius Das Stiersymbol des Dionysos Koln 1892 p. 18 fig. 16.

Height o'26m. Restored : neck and chest, nose, chin, both lips, large parts of the
ears, grapes over the right cheek, two leafy sprays over the brow; also the muzzle and
right eye of the calf. The red marble was doubtless chosen as appropriate to the god of
wine.

5 Supra p. 665 ff.

6 The bull-connexion had in fact never been wholly dropped (F. T. Welcker in the
Mon. d. Inst, vi—vii pi. 6, 1—3, Ann. d. Inst. 1857 xxix. 153—160, id. Alt. Denkm.
v. 36—39 pi. 2, E. Thraemer in Roscher Lex. Myth. i. 1149—1151, A. W. Curtius
op. cit. passim). Even at Athens the bull figured in the festivals of the god. At the
City Dionysia in 334/3 B.C. oxen were 'sacrificed and their hides sold {Corp. inscr. Att.
ii. 2 no. 741 A., a 16 f. = Dittenberger Syll. inscr. Gr? no. 620 a 16 f. = Michel Recueil
a"Inscr. gr. no. 824 i 16 f.) ; later a bull was taken in procession by the e"pheboi and
sacrificed ev iepQ [Corp. inscr. Att. ii. 1 no. 471, 13 c. 112/1? B.C. ; ib. no. 469, 15
110/9? B.C. ; ib. no. 466, 14 c. 100? B.C.; ib. no. 467, 17 f. = Dittenberger Syll. inscr. Gr.'1
no. 521, 17 f. =Michel Recueil d'Inscr. gr. no. 610, 17 f. 100/99 B*c> > Corp. inscr. Att.
ii. i no. 468, 11 f. 94/93 B.C.). At the Dionysia in the Peiraieus too in 334/3 B.C. oxen
were sacrificed and their hides sold {Corp. inscr. Att. ii. 2 no. 741 A, a 6 f., Dittenberger