Cook, Arthur B.: Zeus: a study in ancient religion (Band 2,1): Zeus god of the dark sky (thunder and lightning): Text and notes (Cambridge, 1925)

and the fork of Hades 803

The failure of the proofs so far considered throws into relief the
one valid piece of evidence that has been adduced1. At Urbs
Salvia (Urbisaglid) in Picenum there came to light in 1853 portions
of an ancient Roman aqueduct. Near it the year after were found
four tegulae mannnatae, which seem to have been used as covering
tiles for the channel. When placed in position they had been
painted, apparently by some encaustic process, with a series of
figures representing, from left to right, Iuno (?), Iupiter, Minerva,
and Victoria. To judge from the style, these deities were referable
to early imperial times. And there can be little doubt that the)'
were intended to protect the water of the aqueduct against all con-
tamination. We are concerned only with the central figure of the
Capitoline triad (fig. 770). Iupiter, with a violet mantle draped over
his ochre body, confronts us fairly bristling with weapons: he has
a thunderbolt and a trident in his left hand, and a two-pronged
fork in his right, while a dolphin appears at his side. Clearly he is
conceived as sky-god (thunderbolt), sea-god (trident, dolphin),
and earth-god (fork) rolled into one—a deity competent to
keep all evil at a distance. He is accompanied by the inscription
IOVE • IVTOR •, ' to Iupiter the Helper*!

J. Schmidt, to whom we are indebted for the first publication of
this interesting tile, thinks3 that Iupiter as earth-god got his fork
from the Etruscart Charon4. But O. Waser in his monograph on
Charon recognises no such attribute5. We cannot even admit
the contention of J. A. Ambrosch that at least one Etruscan
sepulchral relief equips a demon of the Underworld with a pitch-
fork6. The ecclesiastical paintings of the middle ages did so7. But
the alleged Etruscan example is illusory: the supposed fork is
merely a flaming torch8. Again, we shall hardly venture to connect

1 G. Schmidt ' Tie mattoni dipinti di Urbi.saglia ' in the Ann. d. Inst. 1880 lii. 59—
73, Mon. d. hist, xi pi. 17,'i—3, Class. Rev. 1904 xviii. 374 fig. 6. Length 0.47'";
breadth o'3im ; thickness o"05in (nos. 1, 2), o'045m (no. 3).

- Th. Mommsen in Corp. inscr. Lat. ix no. 5531, followed by Dessau Inscr. Lat. sel.
no. 3031, reads love Iutori. But Schmidt loc. cit. p. 63 n. 2 is positive that he has tran-
scribed the lettering with absolute accuracy. In any case love lutorid) must be taken as
a dative case: cp. Corp. inscr. Lat. xi no. 4766, ir {. — Dessau op. cit. no. 4911, 11 f.
(near Spoletium) love bovid \ piaclum datod, ib. 15 f. Iovei bovid piaclutn \ datod.

3 Schmidt loc. cit. p. 67 f.

4 E. Braun in the Ann. d. Inst. 1837 ix. 256, 257, 274, G. Dennis The Cities and
Cemeteries of Etruria^ London 1883 ii. 192.

", O. Waser Charon, Charun, Charos Berlin 1898 p. 80 ff.

6 J. A. Ambrosch De Charonte Etrusco Vratislaviae 1837 pp. 15, 18.

7 Supra p. 136 n. 4 pi. viii.

8 F. Inghirami Monumenti etruschi 0 di etrusco noine Poligrafia Fiesolana 1821 i.
284 ft. pi. 32, O. Waser op. cit. p. 142 no. 32, G. Dennis op. cit? ii. 183 f. Similarly the
bearded personage, who wears a large hat inscribed ICTO and carries ' un bastone bifor-

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