DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.56731#0028
8. THE CLASSICAL TRADITION: GODS IN HUMAN SHAPE
Little monumental sculpture representing the Roman divinities has been found in Britain,
and it is uncertain whether cult images of pagan gods existed in any quantity in Roman Britain.
But numerous reliefs and small metal-work objects were introduced, usually representing Jupiter,
Mars, Mercury, or Venus. Some of these are of high quality.
The importation of these images of the gods had a notable influence on religious history, for
they conveyed the idea that divine beings were of human form and character and should be
portrayed in art harmoniously and with dignity. They prepared the way not only for the repre-
sentation of the heathen divinities of the native population, but also for the coming of Christian
mediaeval art.
1. Bronze figure of Mars, found at Barkway, Herts., c. 1743. Second century a.d. British Museum.
The statuette is only 3 in. high, but has great elegance of line and execution. On it were
silver plaques bearing votive inscriptions to Mars Toulates and Mars Alator, and the image must
therefore have come from a native shrine, for Toulates and Alator are Celtic gods. The cult of
Mars, which the Roman legions spread over the whole Roman Empire, was absorbed into the
native traditions.
2. Abundantia, found at Lincoln in 1885. 3 ft. 2 in. high. Second to third century a.d. City
and County Museum, Lincoln.
This figure with a cornucopia or horn of plenty on her left arm may represent Abundantia.
It is one of the rare monumental representations of a divinity discovered on British soil. Lincoln
(Lindum colonia) was founded as a chartered town of Roman veterans and, as a centre of Mediter-
ranean culture, must have attracted artists capable of work in this style. The stone is Lincolnshire
oolite and the work must therefore have been produced on the spot.
5. Dedication relief to Brigantia, goddess of the tribe of the Brigantes in W. Yorkshire. About
3 ft. high, in native stone. Found in 1731 at Birrens, Dumfriesshire. Third century a.d. National
Museum of Antiquities of Scotland, Edinburgh.
The relief was set up by an architect called Amandus, who has been tentatively identified
with the Amandus mentioned in a Rhenish inscription of a.d. 208.
The Roman conception of this native tutelary goddess was evidently that of a goddess of
war, like Minerva. She has been given Minerva’s panoply of helmet, shield and lance, and her
Medusa-emblem on the breast. But she is more than Minerva, she has the wings of Victory and
holds the orb, symbol of world power. Round her helmet she wears a mural crown because the
goddess protects the land of the tribe. The cone-shaped stone at the front of the niche resembles
the sacred stones of certain primitive cults from Asia Minor and Carthage which still survived in
the third century. Its meaning here, however, is obscure. The sculptor was perhaps a much-
travelled foreigner, and, when ordered to depict a goddess whom the British population had not
represented in human shape, he collected the elements of his “invention” from models belonging
to widely different cults.
4. Jupiter between eagles’ heads. Silver skillet-handle found in 1747 at Capheaton, Northumber-
land. a.d. 181-93. British Museum.
The standing figure performs a sacrifice for the welfare of the army. She holds a standard
of the Roman legions and pours the libation on the altar.
5. Head of an Ocean deity. Handle of a bronze jug (detail), found in Threadneedle Street,
London. About a.d. 100. London Museum.
Winged monsters intertwined with the hair warn the spectator of the ambiguous character
of Nature, benignant and dangerous at the same time.
The pagan gods introduced from the Mediterranean included not only the old Olympians,
but also new, powerful divinities from Asia Minor, Egypt, Persia, etc. Worshippers were initiated
by degrees into the cult of these divinities who guaranteed to the faithful the salvation of the soul.
6. Bronze statuette of Atys, found in the Thames at Barnes. Published in 1840.
Cybele, the Phrygian Mother Goddess, loved the beautiful shepherd Atys, who broke troth
with a nymph, and, driven to madness, castrated himself. Atys died and was changed into a
fir-tree. This is the late and mild version of the legend as told by Ovid. The ritual of the cult
seems to imply, however, that the myth which the Roman legions spread from East to West was
more orgiastic. It became a symbol of death and resurrection and spread all over Europe. The
statuette shows the god wearing trousers, which are an Asiatic garment, and the Phrygian cap,
characteristic of the country where his cult originated. He is holding fruit. As the lover of Cybele,
goddess of Nature, Atys is himself a divinity of plant-life, of growth, decay, and re-birth.
7. Mithraic slab said to have been found in the Walbrook, City of London, in 1889, an ex voto
by a veteran of the 2nd legion. About the middle of the second century a.d. London Museum.
Mithras was a Persian divinity, who became the invincible Sun-god of the Roman legions.
He sacrificed the Bull in the world-cave, which was surrounded by the Zodiac, and thus produced
life on earth. Above the Zodiac—the path of sun and moon—are the chariots of the sun rising
and of the moon setting. Below are the busts of two wind-gods. One blows the soul down to
earth to be born, the other blows it up to heaven after death. The cult of Mithras demanded a
virtuous life from the faithful, and in return they were granted immortality.
8. Bronze clamp, found in the bed of the Thames near London Bridge in 1840. Third
century a.d. (?). British Museum.
The outer edges of the clamp are decorated with the busts of ten divinities in this order:
Atys (?), Mars (Tuesday), Diana (Monday), Apollo (Sunday), Saturn (Saturday).
Cybele, Mercury (Wednesday), Jupiter (Thursday), Venus (Friday), Ceres.
The cult of Cybele and Atys everywhere retained something of the sinister quality which it
had in its origins in Asia Minor (see 6). It has been suggested that the clamp was used by the
worshippers of Cybele for castration. Astrology was closely connected with the mystery cults.
Seven of the gods on either side of the clamp are planetary deities presiding over each day of the
week. It is not known why the series of the divinities of the days starts with Tuesday (Mars), or
why Ceres has been added to them.
Little monumental sculpture representing the Roman divinities has been found in Britain,
and it is uncertain whether cult images of pagan gods existed in any quantity in Roman Britain.
But numerous reliefs and small metal-work objects were introduced, usually representing Jupiter,
Mars, Mercury, or Venus. Some of these are of high quality.
The importation of these images of the gods had a notable influence on religious history, for
they conveyed the idea that divine beings were of human form and character and should be
portrayed in art harmoniously and with dignity. They prepared the way not only for the repre-
sentation of the heathen divinities of the native population, but also for the coming of Christian
mediaeval art.
1. Bronze figure of Mars, found at Barkway, Herts., c. 1743. Second century a.d. British Museum.
The statuette is only 3 in. high, but has great elegance of line and execution. On it were
silver plaques bearing votive inscriptions to Mars Toulates and Mars Alator, and the image must
therefore have come from a native shrine, for Toulates and Alator are Celtic gods. The cult of
Mars, which the Roman legions spread over the whole Roman Empire, was absorbed into the
native traditions.
2. Abundantia, found at Lincoln in 1885. 3 ft. 2 in. high. Second to third century a.d. City
and County Museum, Lincoln.
This figure with a cornucopia or horn of plenty on her left arm may represent Abundantia.
It is one of the rare monumental representations of a divinity discovered on British soil. Lincoln
(Lindum colonia) was founded as a chartered town of Roman veterans and, as a centre of Mediter-
ranean culture, must have attracted artists capable of work in this style. The stone is Lincolnshire
oolite and the work must therefore have been produced on the spot.
5. Dedication relief to Brigantia, goddess of the tribe of the Brigantes in W. Yorkshire. About
3 ft. high, in native stone. Found in 1731 at Birrens, Dumfriesshire. Third century a.d. National
Museum of Antiquities of Scotland, Edinburgh.
The relief was set up by an architect called Amandus, who has been tentatively identified
with the Amandus mentioned in a Rhenish inscription of a.d. 208.
The Roman conception of this native tutelary goddess was evidently that of a goddess of
war, like Minerva. She has been given Minerva’s panoply of helmet, shield and lance, and her
Medusa-emblem on the breast. But she is more than Minerva, she has the wings of Victory and
holds the orb, symbol of world power. Round her helmet she wears a mural crown because the
goddess protects the land of the tribe. The cone-shaped stone at the front of the niche resembles
the sacred stones of certain primitive cults from Asia Minor and Carthage which still survived in
the third century. Its meaning here, however, is obscure. The sculptor was perhaps a much-
travelled foreigner, and, when ordered to depict a goddess whom the British population had not
represented in human shape, he collected the elements of his “invention” from models belonging
to widely different cults.
4. Jupiter between eagles’ heads. Silver skillet-handle found in 1747 at Capheaton, Northumber-
land. a.d. 181-93. British Museum.
The standing figure performs a sacrifice for the welfare of the army. She holds a standard
of the Roman legions and pours the libation on the altar.
5. Head of an Ocean deity. Handle of a bronze jug (detail), found in Threadneedle Street,
London. About a.d. 100. London Museum.
Winged monsters intertwined with the hair warn the spectator of the ambiguous character
of Nature, benignant and dangerous at the same time.
The pagan gods introduced from the Mediterranean included not only the old Olympians,
but also new, powerful divinities from Asia Minor, Egypt, Persia, etc. Worshippers were initiated
by degrees into the cult of these divinities who guaranteed to the faithful the salvation of the soul.
6. Bronze statuette of Atys, found in the Thames at Barnes. Published in 1840.
Cybele, the Phrygian Mother Goddess, loved the beautiful shepherd Atys, who broke troth
with a nymph, and, driven to madness, castrated himself. Atys died and was changed into a
fir-tree. This is the late and mild version of the legend as told by Ovid. The ritual of the cult
seems to imply, however, that the myth which the Roman legions spread from East to West was
more orgiastic. It became a symbol of death and resurrection and spread all over Europe. The
statuette shows the god wearing trousers, which are an Asiatic garment, and the Phrygian cap,
characteristic of the country where his cult originated. He is holding fruit. As the lover of Cybele,
goddess of Nature, Atys is himself a divinity of plant-life, of growth, decay, and re-birth.
7. Mithraic slab said to have been found in the Walbrook, City of London, in 1889, an ex voto
by a veteran of the 2nd legion. About the middle of the second century a.d. London Museum.
Mithras was a Persian divinity, who became the invincible Sun-god of the Roman legions.
He sacrificed the Bull in the world-cave, which was surrounded by the Zodiac, and thus produced
life on earth. Above the Zodiac—the path of sun and moon—are the chariots of the sun rising
and of the moon setting. Below are the busts of two wind-gods. One blows the soul down to
earth to be born, the other blows it up to heaven after death. The cult of Mithras demanded a
virtuous life from the faithful, and in return they were granted immortality.
8. Bronze clamp, found in the bed of the Thames near London Bridge in 1840. Third
century a.d. (?). British Museum.
The outer edges of the clamp are decorated with the busts of ten divinities in this order:
Atys (?), Mars (Tuesday), Diana (Monday), Apollo (Sunday), Saturn (Saturday).
Cybele, Mercury (Wednesday), Jupiter (Thursday), Venus (Friday), Ceres.
The cult of Cybele and Atys everywhere retained something of the sinister quality which it
had in its origins in Asia Minor (see 6). It has been suggested that the clamp was used by the
worshippers of Cybele for castration. Astrology was closely connected with the mystery cults.
Seven of the gods on either side of the clamp are planetary deities presiding over each day of the
week. It is not known why the series of the divinities of the days starts with Tuesday (Mars), or
why Ceres has been added to them.