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 aigts and Gorgoneion of Athena 863

variation on the common Medusa, whose head often appears on shields. This
Medusa, if such it be, and the owl suggest that the temple was dedicated to
Minerva, goddess of Bath.'

The Gorgoneion of Sulis Minerva (fig. 701)1 has been diversely
interpreted. G. Scharf2 in 1855 declared that it is not a Gorgoneion
at all, but just a personification of the Hot Spring itself. Most
critics admit that it is indeed the head of Medousa, but a Medousa
of a peculiar, provincial type. F. Haverfield and H. Stuart Jones3,
to account for the beard and moustaches, suggest the contamination
of Medousa with Phobos. R. G. Collingwood4 derives the type,
'glaring, ferocious, apotropaic,' from 'the human or demonic masks
°f early La Tene art,' and hints at the possibility that the Bath
sculptor may have been no Briton, but' Priscus of Chartres5 or one
°f his Gaulish colleagues.' My own belief is that the Gorgoneion
here as elsewhere6 is treated as a representation of the sun. Sulis
was a sun-goddess. The centre of a pediment is the right place for
a solar disk7. The head itself has 'locks standing out flame-wise'
ar>d a ' fiery suffering expression8.' If in Rhodes the head of Helios
could be assimilated to the Gorgdneion9, I conceive that at Aquae
Sulis (Aquae Solis some called it10) the Gorgdneion could be
assimilated to the head of Sol11. Thus, in a sense, the Gorgon ends

1 From a photograph by Mr S. R. Lewin kindly procured for nie by Mr A. J. Taylor.
G. Scharf in Archaeologia 1855 xxxvi. 194 ff. The flowing locks are streams of
w'ater; the great hollow shield is the basin in which they collect; the two wreaths are
"ak-groves surrounding the spot. Etc. H. M. Scarth op. cit. p. 22 f. is inclined to
follow suit.

3 F. Haverfield—H. Stuart Jones 'Some representative examples of Romano-British
culpture> in the Journ. Rom. Stud. 1912 ii. 134 f. with pi. 4. On Phobos in relation to
e Gorgon see P. Weizsacker in Roscher Lex. Myth. iii. 2386—2395 figs. 1—9.

R. G. Collingwood—J. N. L. My res Roman Britain and the English Settlements
Oxford 1936 pp. 255, 2a6.

. Dessau Inscr. /.at. sel. no. 4661 (found at Bath) Priscus | Touti f. | lapidariufs], |
Clvis Car[nu]|tenus Su[li] | deae v.[s.].

Supra p. 845 n. 9. 7 Supra i. 293 ff. figs. 213—218.

Mrs D. P. Dobson The Archaeology of Somerset London 1931 p. 148.
Supra p. 855 figs. 691—693.
,p , fn Anton. Aug. p. 486, 3 Wesseling (p. 74 Cuntz) Aquis Sulis m. p. vi cod. B
* ai'isinus Regius 4807, s. ix A.D.) reads solis. So also the tabula Peutingeriana (on which
supra p. i+2 f.) segmentum i. 5 aquissolis.

Ihis would be a concession to Roman sentiment. In any sun-cult the Romans
w°uld expect some indication of a masculine Sol. It is worth observing that fragments of
Vo smaller pediments were found at Bath, one showing the bust of Luna in a concave
Panel (H. M. Scarth op. cit. p. 24 pi. 6, A. J. Taylor op. cit. p. 29 no. 5 fig.), the other
£,ree ravs of a radiate Sol in a similar medallion (J. Carter The Ancient Architecture of
J'gland London 1795 (it.' London 1837) p. 9 pi. 9 fig- A, S. Lysons Remains of two
e"'ples and other Roman Antiquities discovered at Bath London 1802 p. 8 col pi. 9
g' °> G. Scharf in Archaeologia 1855 xxxvi. 198 f., H. M. Scarth op. cit. p. 24).

0