Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

8o2 The thunderbolt of Zeus
other painters represented Pluto with a two-pronged fork in his
hand, and conjectured that this detail must have been taken from
ancient monuments since lost\ F. G. Welcker
in 185 1 -, and again in 1857-', confirmed his
opinion, citing definite works of renaissance
art in which Pluto is so portrayed*. These
scholars and others following in their steps
were also able to name a certain number of
would-be classical monuments in support of
their contention. But a more rigorous criti-
jTjg -5„ cism would have curtailed or cancelled the list.
Thus a statuette of Italian marble in the Pio-
Clementino collection shows Pluto enthroned :
a inodius decorated with oak-leaves and acorns ;
he
wears on his head
he has at his right
side a three-headed Cerberus, and in his left hand a two-pronged fork.
But, as Visconti indicates, the fork together with the hand that holds
it is a modern restoration'. Again, a desk-shaped terra cotta at
Woburn Abbey has its slanting surface adorned with three bearded
heads wearing the inodius : they are characterised as Poseidon, Zeus,
and Plouton by the attributes" added below on the front—a trident,
a thunderbolt, and a two-pronged fork. Beneath the thunderbolt
is an inscription in raised letters :
Du's propi- To the propitious gods
M- Herennii of Marcus Herennius.
vivatis Long life to you".
Replicas of this curious monument have been reported from
Vienna^, Parish and Wiirzhurg**. Unfortunately their genuineness is
far from established'". Finally, a two-pronged fork figures among
the amulets on a Tarentine cake-mould in the British Museum".
O. Jahn, who published this mould in 1855, thought that the fork
might be a symbol of Hades, but regarded it as doubtful'-.
' E. Braun in the Ann. d. Inst. 1837 ix. 274.
2 Welcker Alt. Denkm. iii. 95.
^ Welcker Gr. Gotterl. i. 630 f. n. 28.
^ See also J. Addison Classic Myths in Art London 1905 pp. 25, 29.
^ Visconti il//«. Pie-CUm. ii. 17 ff. pi. i, Reinach Rep. Stat. i. 44ono. i.
" A. Michaelis Ancient Marbles in Great Britain trans. C. A. M. Fennell Cam-
bridge 1882 p. 745 Woburn Abbey no. 182.
" Welcker Gr. Gotterl. i. 630 n. 28.
* F. Wieseler in the Arch. Zeit. 1859 ^^^^ Anz. p. 115* f. Pourtales— Gorgier collec-
tion no. 826. " A. Michaelis op. cit. p. 745.
'" Michaelis described the Woburn Abbey ' specimen as new '
: Dubois, Wieseler, and
Gerhard doubted the antiquity of those from Paris and WUrzburg.
'' Brit. Mus. Cat. Terracottas p. 446 no. E 129, supra p. 131 n. i no. (i).
'- O. Jahn in the Ber. siichs. Gesellsch. d. Wiss. Phil. -hist. Classe 1854 p. 52 n. 93
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