Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

The Column of Mayence 95
and Minerva bringing the year to a prosperous close with Fortuna
conceived as her second self\ The front and back of the lower
plinth show lupiter and Hercules^ standing between acanthus-
pilasters, which are adorned with flowers, grapes, squirrels, etc.
and topped by four male heads or masks—two Satyroi with pointed
ears on the side of lupiter, two Silenoi wreathed with ivy and vine
on that of Hercules^ The upper plinth displays Apollo flanked by
1 Minerva, wearing sleeved chitdn, himdtion, aigts, and helmet with reclining griffin
as crest-support, drops a pinch of incense from her right hand into a small brazier set
upon a stone base : her owl is visible beneath her left hand. Fortuna, draped in a sleeve-
less chitdn, which has slipped from her right shoulder, and a hiindtion, has a stephdnc in
her hair, holds the tiller of a steering-paddle in her right hand, and carries a goat's horn
as cornii copiae over her left shoulder.
F. Hertlein Die Juppitergigantensdulen Stuttgart 1910 p. 156 notes that Fortuna
appears as representative of the winter on Vicrgottersteine from Kreuznach {ib. pp. 109,
126, 131) and Heinzenhausen (//'. pp. 109, 122, 126). Moreover, he is able to cite an altar
Fig. 54-
found at Mayence in 1832, which is dedicated [/.] 0. in. \ [/u]}20>ii Reginae \ \^For\hinae
Mina-vae \ ... (Corp. inscr. Lat. xiii no. 6728) : this implies a close association, though
hardly an actual identification, of Fortuna with Minerva (cp. Co7p. inscr. Lai. ix no. 4674
Reate lovi 0. m. Minervae Fortunae Herculi).
2 For lupiter and Hercules as obverse and reverse of the same monument cp. a lime-
stone figure found in 1885 on the Petersberg near Treves (F. Hettner Die rdmischen
Steindenkmdler des Provinzialmuseums zu Trier Trier 1893 p. 12 f. no. 2r fig. = my
fig. 54). lupiter in hiindtion and sandals, with his eagle on a globe beside him, is seated
on a throne, the back of which forms a floral frame filled by a standing Hercules with
lion-skin and club, bow and quiver. It was perhaps felt that Hercules was the heroic
counterpart of lupiter : Donar at least was equated first with the former and then with
the latter [supra p. 63 n. i). A Gallic lupiter approximating in type to Hercules has
been figured supra i. 288 fig. 208.
^ These Dionysiac heads together with the vegetable and animal decoration of the
pilasters recall the vine-leaf shafts of Neuenheim and Les Fontaines (5 ^i-/;';? p. 71 n. 7).