DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7898#0042
This curious bas-relief, which has the usual form of votive monuments,
was probably dedicated by some lover of the chase, who had implored the
goddess in behalf of his favourite animals. Or it may have been placed in the
precincts of a temple, or perhaps inserted in the wall of a stable, like the
images of the goddess Hippona (i) at Rome, as a spell against every sort of evil.
The execution is indifferent, but the subject is new, and interesting by its
reference to a modern superstitious ceremony annually performed at Rome (2).
Before embarking on a distant navigation, or during a storm and other
dangers of the sea, it was customary for mariners and other persons, to pro-
mise sacrifices and offerings to Neptune, Glaucus, and the various divinities
of the ocean, in case of safe arrival at their destination. Among other vows,
was sometimes that of cutting off the hair and offering it to the divinity,
Avhose protection was implored.
The marble tablet n° 1 (3), which has also the form of an cedicula, illustrates
this custom. Two tresses of plaited hair are suspended under a kind of por-
tico, between two pilasters which support the roof. On the architrave, the
inscription <MAOMBPOT02 A<I>0ONHTO2 AEINOMAXOY nOSEIAftNI, shews
that Philombrotus and Aphthonetus, the sons of Deinomachus have dedicated
their hair to Neptune (4) in some of his temples, and have erected the tablet
to commemorate this act of piety.
(1) Juvenal. Satyr, vili, vers. 157. Plutarch.
Parallel, torn. \u,pag. 241, edit. Reiske. Apu-
leius. Metamorph. lib. m, pag.
The present monument having been found
in Thessaly, where Apuleius places the scene
of his fable, it is not impossible that he allud-
ed, under the Roman name of Hippona, to a
figure like the present.
(2) Horses and other animals are annually
taken in the church of St. Antonio, where
they are blessed on the 17th of January, fes-
tival of the Saint. V. Middleton.Let. from Rome.
(3) It was found in the ruins of Pthiotic
Thebes, in Thessaly, and is also in the col-
lection of Lieut.-Colonel Leake. Dimensions 1
foot 2 inches, by 1 foot 1 inch.
(4) In an ancient epigram, a mariner escaped
from shipwreck, says that he offers his hair
to Neptune and the marine divinities, because
he had preserved nothing else to give. Anthol.
Graeca. lib. vi, cap. 21, epigr. 1. Potter Ar-
cliEeol. Graec. lib. in, cap. 20.
was probably dedicated by some lover of the chase, who had implored the
goddess in behalf of his favourite animals. Or it may have been placed in the
precincts of a temple, or perhaps inserted in the wall of a stable, like the
images of the goddess Hippona (i) at Rome, as a spell against every sort of evil.
The execution is indifferent, but the subject is new, and interesting by its
reference to a modern superstitious ceremony annually performed at Rome (2).
Before embarking on a distant navigation, or during a storm and other
dangers of the sea, it was customary for mariners and other persons, to pro-
mise sacrifices and offerings to Neptune, Glaucus, and the various divinities
of the ocean, in case of safe arrival at their destination. Among other vows,
was sometimes that of cutting off the hair and offering it to the divinity,
Avhose protection was implored.
The marble tablet n° 1 (3), which has also the form of an cedicula, illustrates
this custom. Two tresses of plaited hair are suspended under a kind of por-
tico, between two pilasters which support the roof. On the architrave, the
inscription <MAOMBPOT02 A<I>0ONHTO2 AEINOMAXOY nOSEIAftNI, shews
that Philombrotus and Aphthonetus, the sons of Deinomachus have dedicated
their hair to Neptune (4) in some of his temples, and have erected the tablet
to commemorate this act of piety.
(1) Juvenal. Satyr, vili, vers. 157. Plutarch.
Parallel, torn. \u,pag. 241, edit. Reiske. Apu-
leius. Metamorph. lib. m, pag.
The present monument having been found
in Thessaly, where Apuleius places the scene
of his fable, it is not impossible that he allud-
ed, under the Roman name of Hippona, to a
figure like the present.
(2) Horses and other animals are annually
taken in the church of St. Antonio, where
they are blessed on the 17th of January, fes-
tival of the Saint. V. Middleton.Let. from Rome.
(3) It was found in the ruins of Pthiotic
Thebes, in Thessaly, and is also in the col-
lection of Lieut.-Colonel Leake. Dimensions 1
foot 2 inches, by 1 foot 1 inch.
(4) In an ancient epigram, a mariner escaped
from shipwreck, says that he offers his hair
to Neptune and the marine divinities, because
he had preserved nothing else to give. Anthol.
Graeca. lib. vi, cap. 21, epigr. 1. Potter Ar-
cliEeol. Graec. lib. in, cap. 20.