VICTORY MONUMENTS
Warriors often dedicated miniature versions of armor in thanksgiving for their survival (79.4). This cuirass recalls the dedication of the enemy’s armor as a tropaeum (trophy, as on 83.189) by a general at the site of a victory. In art, dejected prisoners were often shown at the foot of such tropaea (82.253). These coins include images of Nike, the winged personification of victory.
Votive Cuirass
Votive Cuirass
4th century BC
Copper alloy
Adolph D. and Wilkins C. Williams Fund
79.4
Roman (Mint: Alexandria)
Drachm, ca. AD 138—61
Side A: Antonius Pius
Side B: Nike crowning trophy
Gift of Dr. Marvin Murray
83.189
Cybele Riding a Lion / Kybele Riding a Lion
Roman
Cybele Riding a Lion (Primary Title)
Kybele Riding a Lion (Alternate Title)
Late 2nd Century AD
Alabaster
49.10.31
“If ever a foreign-born enemy brings war to Italian lands, he can be driven from Italy and defeated if the Idaean Mother [Kybele] is brought from Pessinus to Rome.” – Livy, History of Rome
During Rome’s war against the Carthaginian general Hannibal, a prophecy was discovered in Rome’s sacred texts, the Sybillene books, that the Romans could defeat a foreign enemy only if they brought the goddess Kybele from Anatolia (in modern Turkey). Thus, in 205 BC, the cult of Kybele (including her priests) was introduced into Rome. This small-scale statue of Kybele (Magna Mater or “Great Mother”) riding on her frequent companion, a lion, was perhaps a votive offering or part of a household shrine.
Red-figure Nolan Amphora (Storage Vessel)
Attributed to, Berlin Painter
active 5th century BC
Greek (Attic)
Terracotta
82.204
The Berlin Painter, a master of perhaps the greatest era of Greek vase painting (the late Archaic and early Classical periods), specialized in the human figure, usually shown on a ground line against a plain background. On this vase, the kithara identifies the male figure as Apollo, who pours a libation (offering) onto an altar. Libations were offered before meals, symposia, and other public and private gatherings. The goddess Artemis, Apollo’s sister, appears on the other side bearing her bow and quiver on her back.
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