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)

862 The aigis and Gorgoneion of Athena

service of mankind. The power presiding over these springs is Minerva. In her
temple are perpetual fires which never pass into white embers, for as soon as
the fire has died down it turns into stony nodules.'

The local cult was, during the Roman occupation, thoroughly
classicised, and a noble bronze head (figs. 698, 699)1' found under
Stall Street in 1727, close to the south-west corner of the Baths
may well be that of Sulis Minerva herself2. It was originally fitted
with a helmet, beneath which the hair escaped about the brows.
This, and the long neck clear of drapery, recall Niketas'3 description
of the great Bronze Athena on the Akropolis at Athens. Indeed,
there are so many marks of Pheidiac style here present—the long
narrow eyes, the emphasised lower lid, the absence of overlap, the
strong broad nose, the short upper lip—that we need not hesitate
to recognise a Roman copy of that famous original. The surface
bears numerous traces of thick gilding, and when first set up the
whole statue must have been a resplendent sight, the sun-goddess
in a glory of gold4.

Among the architectural remains of her temple5, discovered
under the Pump Room in 1790, are large portions of a triangujal
relief (pi. lxvi and fig. 700) thus described by Mr A. J. Taylor6:

' Fragments from the tympanum of a temple pediment. When complete'
the sculpture represented a group of arms, viz., a shield bearing a head inside
oakwreaths, upheld by two winged Victories ; a helmet with large cheekpiece'
and a crest like an animal's head; something, possibly a standard, with an 0%
perched on it, and, to the extreme right what may be the traces of a floria"^
cuirass. The head on the shield is marked by an astonishing and aim
barbaric vigour and both in style and in vehement character stands alrn°s ^
not quite alone among the sculptures of the western Roman Empire. It 1
wings and snakes in the hair and, though bearded, may represent s

n "fl*

1 H. M. Scarth Aquce Solis London 1864 p. 25 ft. with Frontispiece, J. Hattoi
Book ofBat)? s.l., s.a. p. 17 fig., A.J.Taylor The Roman Baths ofBath Bath 1933 P' bs
no. 31 with 2 figs, (full-face and profile). I am indebted to Mr Taylor for the photog1'
from which my figs. 698, 699 were made. . 0n

2 This is the conclusion justly reached by Mr Taylor op, cit. p. 40. Mrs D. P- r£t0g)e
The Archaeology of Somerset London 1931 p. 150 is content to say 'the bronze
head, possibly that of Minerva.' fit

3 Niket. Chon. 359c p. 739 Bekker (cp. supra p. 225 n. 1) 6 U ye ai>Xt\v ^^iit
Kcd irpbs t6 SoXixoSeipov avareLvofievos dfiaxov ei's -qSofrin diaixa rjv...ri Si k6hV ^s ^
8ieuTpa/j./j.ipi] nai Stap.avp.ivr) ovieBev, oar) Kix.vTO eK /xeTuiruv, rpvtp-q ris ■q" 6ij>Sa^
eiritrav ra Kpavei avve-xpntvT], aXkd ti Kai irapeixcpalvovaa. tou ttXox/J-ov- lae^

4 On the impression produced by golden statues see S. Eitrem in Symbolae U
1936 xvi—xvii. 122 f. iffS oj

5 A restoration of its tetrastyle Corinthian facade is given by S. Lysons Ke" ^ col-
two Temples and other Roman Antiquities discovered at Bath London 1802 P<

pl- 5-

6 A. J. Taylor op. cit. p. 23 no. 1 with pl. (part of which2:my fig- 700).