Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

The double axe in the West 619
Not till we reach the Roman period can we beyond all question
connect the axe with particular deities. A plate of copper dis-
covered near Cadenet in the district of Apt amid a heap of ashes
to the west of a circular wall records the gift of an axe to Mars and
an axe to Dexsiva^ (a Celtic goddess^) in fulfilment of a vow^ Six
Fig. 516
little hatchets of bronze found in the ruins of a temple at Allmen-
dingen near Thun bear votive inscriptions ' to lupiter,' ' to the
Matres' (fig. 516), 'to the Matronae,' 'to Mercurius,' 'to Minerva'
(fig. 517), and 'of Neptunus' respectively*. In Gallia Lugudunensis
Esus the axe-god was associated with lovis and Volcanus^, while
1 Corp. inscr. Lat. xii no. 1063 (with fig.) d(onuin) d(at) Quartus Mar(ti) | secu]rem. |
d(onum) d(at) Q (?) Dexsive |
Quartus
secu|rem. v(otum) s(olvit) l(ibens) m(erito).
T. Mommsen suggested as a possible reading : d(is) d(eabus) Quartus m(e)r(itis) |
d(is) d(eabus) o(mnibus) etc.
^ M. Ihm in Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. v. 295.
secu|rem.
|
3 S. C. F. Calvet cp. Fredegodus v. S. Wilfridi Eboracensis (died 709 A. D.) 15. 558
(cxxxiii. 992 A Migne) non igitur coeptum dissolvit Dexia votum.
* T. Mommsen Inscriptiones confoederationis Helveticae Latinae {Mittheilungen der
Antiquarischen Gesellschaft in Zurich x) Zurich 1854 p. 39 no. 211 (i) lovi, (2) Matribus
with fig. ( = my fig. 516), (3) Matronis, (4) Mercurio, (5) Minervae with fig. ( = myfig. 517),
(6) Neptuni, M. Ihm 'Der Mutter- oder Matronenkultus und seine Denkmaler' in the
fahrb. d. Vereins v. Alterthtimsfreund. im Rheinl. 1887 Ixxxiii. 128 nos. £56, 157.
^ Supra i. 481 n. 9, ii. 547 n. o.