Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

86
lupiter-Columns
a flash of lightning held across his body. As he steps out from the
top of the column, he looks like an incredibly clumsy caricature
of Paionios' Victory.
Equally bizarre is a group from Luxovium {Luxeuil) in Germania
Superior (fig. 48)^ This shows the rider-god thrusting his right
Fig. 48.
hand between the spokes'- of a wheel and resting his left on the
shoulder of a partially draped female figure, who appears to be
floating through the air at his side. The giant is reduced to a
mere head supporting the left forefoot of the horse. The precise
significance of the group is uncertain. It is possible that the god
and his attendant should be identified with Luxovius and Brixia,
mentioned together in an inscription from Liixeuil'^. But in any
case the rider must be regarded as a form of the Celtic lupiter,
who is represented by statuettes in white clay from Moulins (Allier)
as a bearded god in military garb holding a wheel in his right hand
^ A. C. P. de Tubieres Comte de Caylus Rectieil (Tantiquitis ^gyptiennes, itrusques,
grecqties, roinaines et gauloiscs Paris 1759 ''•• 3^7 f- pl- 99) 3 ( = niy fig. 48), Reinach J?^p.
Stat. ii. 532 nos. 3 and 6. Found at Luxeuil in 1755. Local stone. Height 5 ft.
^ Caylus says :
' una roue a sept rayes.'
•* Corp. inscr. Lat. xiii no. 5426 = Dessau laser . Lat. sel. 4680 Luxovio et Brixiae G.
lul. Firma(n)us v.s.l.m., cp. 5425 = 4680^ [Lu]ssoio |
et
Briciae |
Divixti|us
Consjtans |
v.s.(l.)m. On Luxovius see M. Ihm in Roscher Lex. Myth. ii. 2163 ('Es scheint der
Quellgott von Luxeuil-les-Bains zu sein') and on Brixia A. Holder AU-cellischer Sprach-
schatz Leipzig 1896 i. 531 and 616 ('vielleicht zu fl. Breuchin (Breche) und O. Breuches
und Breuchotte bei Luxeuil '), M. Ihm in Pauly —Wissowa Real-Enc. iii. 835 f., Ruggiero
Dizion, epigr. i. 1027 and 1046.