Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

and the fork of Hades 8oi
alia supplied Aithra's face and painted out half of Poseidon's
trident-head ! In view of this shameless tampering we cannot put
much trust in an early publication of a bronze coin struck by
Domitian at Nysa in Lydia, which purports to show Plouton, fork
in hand, carrying off Persephone upon a four-horse chariot (fig. 769)^
Fig. 768.
The type i^ common enough on the coinage of Lydia-; but
Plouton, where his attribute can be made out, regularly carries a
sceptre, not a fork. I do not doubt that the specimen figured below
has been tooled by some unscrupulous hand.
On Greek soil, then, there is no relevant evidence. It remains
to enquire whether Italy is equally barren.
E. Braun in 1837 drew attention to the fact that Rafael and
^ Morell. Thes. Num. Imp. Rom. ii. 485
monem') pi. 21, 28.
(' Neptunus...rapiens Nympham Amy-
^ See Brit. Mas. Cat. Coins Lydia p. 393 Index, F. Imhoof-Blumer Lydische Stadt-
miinzen Genf—Leipzig 1897 p. 209 Index.
C.II. 51