Francesca Hickin
Head of Department
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Lot 99
A Roman marble figure of Jupiter Dolichenus
6 July 2021, 15:00 BST
London, New Bond Street£5,000 - £7,000
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Anna Marston
Associate Specialist
A Roman marble figure of Jupiter Dolichenus
Circa 2nd-3rd Century A.D.
The god typically depicted in the attire of a military commander, his curling hair and full beard preserving red pigment, wearing a Phrygian cap, a paludamentum draped over his cuirass, his left arm raised to hold a double-axe, now missing, and a long sword hanging from his left hip, 21cm high
Circa 2nd-3rd Century A.D.
The god typically depicted in the attire of a military commander, his curling hair and full beard preserving red pigment, wearing a Phrygian cap, a paludamentum draped over his cuirass, his left arm raised to hold a double-axe, now missing, and a long sword hanging from his left hip, 21cm high
Footnotes
Provenance:
Private collection, UK.
with Coins & Antiquities Ltd, London.
Private collection, UK, acquired from the above 3 May 1977.
Private collection, New York.
Little is known of the practices of the mystery cult of Jupiter Dolichenus, which was popular in Rome and the provinces during the mid 2nd-3rd Century A.D. It was one of several popular Eastern cults including Mithraism, Manichaeism and Christianity. Jupiter Dolichenus is thought to be a Romanised version of an 'Oriental' god originating in Asia Minor and the name is derived from the city of Doliche, near the river Euphrates. Two statues of the god can be seen in Carnuntinum Museum, Austria, which retain the god's characteristic weapons: a double-axe in his raised right hand, and a lightening bolt in his lowered left. Carnuntum was the most important legionary camp of the upper Danube frontier, situated 20 miles east of Vienna, which likely speaks to the god's popularity amongst soldiers, as might be expected from a militaristic deity. See also a 3rd Century relief from Rome and now in the Neues Museum, Berlin, acc. no. Sk 1778.