Cook, Arthur B.: Zeus: a study in ancient religion (Band 3,1): Zeus god of the dark sky (earthquake, clouds, wind, dew, rain, meteorits): Text and notes (Cambridge, 1940)

The Arrhephdroi

173

caduco pondere (so F. Biicheler, transposing lines 17 and 18, and retaining et codd., for which
E- C. F. Schulze, followed by E. Bahrens, cj. en, while O. Mttller, followed by
J- W. Mackail, cj. cmicant). \ ... umor ille, quem serenis astra rorant noctibus, | mane
virgines (so J. Lipsius, followed by J. W. Mackail, for virgineas codd.) papillas solvit
umenti peplo. Cp. what is said of the planet Venus in Ausort. append. 2. 17 f- Evelyn
White (p. 410 Peiper) ros unus, color unus, et unum mane duorum; | sideris et floris nam
domina una Venus.

A late red-figured hydria from Euboia (Collignon—Couve Cat. Vases a"At/ihiesp. 589
no. 1852, Harrison Proleg. Gk. Bel.-p. 635 fig. 170 (from a sketch by Mrs Hugh Stewart))
shows Eros watering slender flowers that spring from the ground. A female figure with
bare breast (Aphrodite?) directs his efforts. On the left sits a young man with a thyrsos.
On the right stands a young woman with a tympanon. Apparently Aphrodite and Eros
are gardening with a Dionysiac entourage.

Differently conceived but somewhat similar in effect is the design found on a bronze
medallion of Faustina Iunior (Brit. Mus. Cat. Medallions p. 16 no. 2 pi. 24, 1 ('Venus

F>g- 75- Fig. 76. Fig. 77.

Genetrix?...in a garden') = Gnecchi Medagl. Bom. ii. 40 no. 13 pi. 68, 1 ('Venere') = my
ng- 75- The specimen has been retouched). Venus, half-draped, stands to the front, her
right hand raised to hold a small tree, which rises from (behind ?) a base. On the left of her
two Cupids are playing, on the right four more, one of whom leans over the battlements
°f a wall or tower. Above it appear other trees. The scene recurs with some variations
on a bronze medallion of Lucilla, daughter of Faustina Iunior (Frbhner Med. emp. rom.
P- 95 f- fig. (= my fig. 76) (' Venus dans un jardin'), Gnecchi op. cit. ii. 51 no. 11 pi. 76, 8
( = my fig. 77) Bologna ('Donna...in un giardino')). A girl is added, filling her pitcher
from a stream in the foreground. These medallions are probably time-serving attempts to
identify first Faustina and then her daughter with Venus. Faustina at least was actually
worshipped along with her husband M. Aurelius in the temple of Venus and the Dea Roma
(Dion Cass. 71. 31 t$ St 'SldpK(i> nal t% $o.v<stIvt) tyr\<t>iaa.To i] jSouXi) gv re t$ ' A<ppo6urlcp t$
T* ' Vu/ialui eUdvas dpyvpds dvaTediji'ai Kai {iwp.bv ISpudTivai, KoX in avrov iraxras ras Kbprvs
T&s iv Ti} darn -ya/aou/i^as fiera tCiv vvn<piuv 6ii€iv), and had coins inscribed venvs, venvs
feux, venvs genetrix, venvs victrix or veneri avgvstae, veneri felici, veneri

genetrici, veneri victrici (Rasche Lex. Num. iii. 921, Cohen Monn. emp. rom.'2 iii.
I54ff. nos. 226—283). Here are a few examples: fig. 78 from the Vautier—Collignon
S"le Catalogut 1922 p. 52 no. 980 pi. 35, fig. 79 from the Bement Sale Catalogue 1924
lu- 59 no. 1066 pi. 39, fig. 80 from Gnecchi Medagl. Rom. ii. 39 no. 8 pi. 67, 6, fig. 81
from the Levis Sale Catalogue 1925 p. 40 no. 632 pi. 26, fig. 82 from the Bement Sale
Catalogue 1924 iii. 59 no. 1068 pi. 39, fig. 83 from the Hirsch Sale Catalogue 1908 p. 10
no- 117 pi. 7. Since coins of this sort are apt to reproduce previous art-types (e.g. fig- 78
recalls the Aphrodite of Frejus (?), fig. 83 is an adaptation from the Aphrodite of Capua,
ar»tl fig. 80 owes something even to the Zeus of Olympia), I incline to think that the