DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14696#0310
248 Dionysos displaced by Apollon
under Britannicus (Mionnet Desc. de mid. ant. Suppl. vi. 439 no. 24 after A. Visconti
Medaglie antiche inedite Roma 1810 pi. 3, 5, J. Friedlaencler loc. cit. pi. 2, 4 = my
fig. 168) and Maximus (Mionnet Descr. de mid. ant. iii. 310 no. 41 after J. Eckhel Cata-
logits Musei Caesarei Vindobonensis numorum veterum Vindobonae 1779 i. 177): obv.
KAAVAIOCB PETA N N[l KO]C[K A I CA P] head of Britannicus to right, or T ■ IOY ■
OYH • MAZIAAOC- K • head of Maximus to right; rev. AAABANAEHN Apollon
standing, nude, quiver on back, bow in outstretched left hand, looking towards eagle
on outstretched right hand, and a small ram at his feet. With regard to these types,
Dr Rendel Harris loc. cit. notes that the head on the obverse of the first coin might be,
not Dionysos, but ' a variant of Apollo'; others, reading KICC60C on the reverse of
the same coin, have taken the god there figured to be, not Apollon, but Dionysos
(D. Sestini Lettere e Dissertazioni numismatic he\.. Le guali servir possono di continuazione
ai nove toniigia editi Firenze 1819 vi. 30 f. no. 8, Mionnet Descr. de med. ant. Suppl. vi.
436 no. 11, A. Fabretti Regio Mitseo di Torino. Monete Greche Torino 1883 p. 292
no. 4199, H. Heydemann Satyr- und Bakchennamen (Winckelmannsfest-Progr. Halle
1880) p. 37 ; D. Sestini loc. cit. p. 31 suggests that the bird may be a jay (idcrcra),
J. Friedlaender loc. cit. makes it a raven, as does Head Hist, mimr p. 607, but unbiased
inspection shows that it is almost certainly an eagle—a fact which led J. Eckhel loc. cit.,
Rasche Lex. Num. i. 267 f., and Mionnet Descr. de mid. ant. iii. 310 no. 41 to describe
Figs. 167—168.
the type as Iupiter holding an eagle. A red-figured kylix from the Laborde collection
shows a long-haired youth, with an ivy-wreath on his head and a himdtion about his legs,
holding a lyre in his left hand and aphidle in his right, as he sits before a flaming altar:
he is commonly, and perhaps rightly (cp. the kylix in Brit. Mils. Cat. Vases iii. 106 f.
no. E 80 pi. 5, better published by Farnell Cults of Gk. States iv. 331 f. pi. 23), called
Apollon (Lenormant—de Witte £l. mon. dr. ii. 17 f. pi. 4, Overbeck Gr. Kunstmyth.
Apollon p. 325 no. 27, p. 330 Atlas pi. 21, 20). But a somewhat similar figure on a
red-figured krater in the Cabinet des Medailles is more probably to be identified with
Dionysos on account of his entourage [supra p. 246 n. o). Lastly, a wall-painting from
Herculaneum, now at Naples, has Apollon wreathed with ivy and half-draped in a
himdtion, with lyre beneath left hand, plektron in right, sitting on a stool beside a female
figure (Muse?), who is similarly wreathed and holds a garland of bay ; the group forms
part of a scene depicting the punishment of Marsyas (Helbig Wandgem. Camp. p. 64
no. 23ib, Antichita di Ercolano Napoli 1760 ii (Pitture ii) p. 121 ff. pi. 19, Real Museo
Borbonico Napoli 1832 viii pi. 19 ivy not clear, W. Ternite Wandgemdlde aus Pompeji
und Herculanum...mit einem erlauternden Text von C. O. Muller Berlin s.a. i. 5 f. pi. 7
ivy quite clear and noted as ' eine seltne Bekranzung des Gottes' in the commentary,
Muller—Wieseler Denkm. d. alt. Kunst i. 34 pi. 43, 204 ivy clear, Overbeck Gr. Kunst-
myth. Apollon p. 344 no. 32, p. 348 Atlas pi. 25, 13 rightly assuming a seated statue of
Apollon as prototype).
under Britannicus (Mionnet Desc. de mid. ant. Suppl. vi. 439 no. 24 after A. Visconti
Medaglie antiche inedite Roma 1810 pi. 3, 5, J. Friedlaencler loc. cit. pi. 2, 4 = my
fig. 168) and Maximus (Mionnet Descr. de mid. ant. iii. 310 no. 41 after J. Eckhel Cata-
logits Musei Caesarei Vindobonensis numorum veterum Vindobonae 1779 i. 177): obv.
KAAVAIOCB PETA N N[l KO]C[K A I CA P] head of Britannicus to right, or T ■ IOY ■
OYH • MAZIAAOC- K • head of Maximus to right; rev. AAABANAEHN Apollon
standing, nude, quiver on back, bow in outstretched left hand, looking towards eagle
on outstretched right hand, and a small ram at his feet. With regard to these types,
Dr Rendel Harris loc. cit. notes that the head on the obverse of the first coin might be,
not Dionysos, but ' a variant of Apollo'; others, reading KICC60C on the reverse of
the same coin, have taken the god there figured to be, not Apollon, but Dionysos
(D. Sestini Lettere e Dissertazioni numismatic he\.. Le guali servir possono di continuazione
ai nove toniigia editi Firenze 1819 vi. 30 f. no. 8, Mionnet Descr. de med. ant. Suppl. vi.
436 no. 11, A. Fabretti Regio Mitseo di Torino. Monete Greche Torino 1883 p. 292
no. 4199, H. Heydemann Satyr- und Bakchennamen (Winckelmannsfest-Progr. Halle
1880) p. 37 ; D. Sestini loc. cit. p. 31 suggests that the bird may be a jay (idcrcra),
J. Friedlaender loc. cit. makes it a raven, as does Head Hist, mimr p. 607, but unbiased
inspection shows that it is almost certainly an eagle—a fact which led J. Eckhel loc. cit.,
Rasche Lex. Num. i. 267 f., and Mionnet Descr. de mid. ant. iii. 310 no. 41 to describe
Figs. 167—168.
the type as Iupiter holding an eagle. A red-figured kylix from the Laborde collection
shows a long-haired youth, with an ivy-wreath on his head and a himdtion about his legs,
holding a lyre in his left hand and aphidle in his right, as he sits before a flaming altar:
he is commonly, and perhaps rightly (cp. the kylix in Brit. Mils. Cat. Vases iii. 106 f.
no. E 80 pi. 5, better published by Farnell Cults of Gk. States iv. 331 f. pi. 23), called
Apollon (Lenormant—de Witte £l. mon. dr. ii. 17 f. pi. 4, Overbeck Gr. Kunstmyth.
Apollon p. 325 no. 27, p. 330 Atlas pi. 21, 20). But a somewhat similar figure on a
red-figured krater in the Cabinet des Medailles is more probably to be identified with
Dionysos on account of his entourage [supra p. 246 n. o). Lastly, a wall-painting from
Herculaneum, now at Naples, has Apollon wreathed with ivy and half-draped in a
himdtion, with lyre beneath left hand, plektron in right, sitting on a stool beside a female
figure (Muse?), who is similarly wreathed and holds a garland of bay ; the group forms
part of a scene depicting the punishment of Marsyas (Helbig Wandgem. Camp. p. 64
no. 23ib, Antichita di Ercolano Napoli 1760 ii (Pitture ii) p. 121 ff. pi. 19, Real Museo
Borbonico Napoli 1832 viii pi. 19 ivy not clear, W. Ternite Wandgemdlde aus Pompeji
und Herculanum...mit einem erlauternden Text von C. O. Muller Berlin s.a. i. 5 f. pi. 7
ivy quite clear and noted as ' eine seltne Bekranzung des Gottes' in the commentary,
Muller—Wieseler Denkm. d. alt. Kunst i. 34 pi. 43, 204 ivy clear, Overbeck Gr. Kunst-
myth. Apollon p. 344 no. 32, p. 348 Atlas pi. 25, 13 rightly assuming a seated statue of
Apollon as prototype).