Page:VCH London 1.djvu/168

 A HISTORY OF LONDON Fresh and Botolph Wharfs (Plan C, 25). It appears to have belonged to a colossal statue of the Emperor, represented probably in heroic costume, at the age of about thirty. Though showing great artistic skill in the modelling and execution, it is not so successful as a portrait ; the forehead is too short, the ears set too obliquely, and the back of the head projects too strongly ; the beard, too, is more closely-cut than Hadrian usually wore it. It is possible that the bronze hand found in Lower Thames Street {see p. 128) belongs to this figure [Bernouilli, Rom. Ikonographle, ii, pt. 2, 1 15, No. 92, pi. 39 ; Gent. Mag. (1835), i, 493, 618 ; Rom. Brit. Rem. i, 190 ; Arch, journ. i, 286 ; Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc, i, 286, with pi. and xxiv, 75 ; Illus. Rom. Land. 65, frontis. ; Arch. Zeitung (1849), 53* ; Soc. Antiq. MS. Min. xxxvi, 473]. In January, 1837, a further find of four statuettes was made in an excavation of the bed of the river by men engaged in ballast heaving ; they represent Jupiter, Apollo, Mercury, and Ganymede respectively (Fig. 50). All are more or less incomplete, and in fact show signs of intentional mutilation (e.g. the legs of the Apollo) ; it has been supposed that they were deliberately broken by the early Christians, and thrown into the river. The Apollo is described as ' a masterpiece of ideal grace and beauty ; the countenance pensive, and full of gentleness and thought, and the repose of the body is in perfect harmony with the conception.' The Mercury ' is of the best and chastest design and most finished workmanship ; the attitude is graceful and easy, the countenance full of animated beauty.' They were probably among the household gods of some Roman official, brought with him from Italy, and it is hardly going too far to suggest that they reflect, though distantly, some Praxitelean or Lysippian types of the fourth century B.C. [Arch, xxviii, 38 flF., pis. 4-7; Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc, i, IIO; Illus. Rom. Land. 68, pis. 15-18 ; Cat. Lond. Antiq. 5, Nos. 11-13; Soc. Antiq. MS. Min. xxxvii, 183]. To the same series belong two statuettes found at Barnes in 1845, in a load of gravel brought from this spot ; one is a figure of Atys wearing breeches open in front down to the knees _Arch. xxviii, 40, pi. 8 ; Illus. Rom. Lond. pi. 19, 69 ; cf. Baumeister, Denkmaler d. klass. Altertums, i, 226] ; the other, the figure of a nude youth, much injured [yourn. Brit. Arch. Assoc, ii, lOO ; Cat. Lond. Antiq. 5, No. 14, pi. 2]. The following were also found about the same time : a bronze figure of a barbarian with thick curly hair standing with legs apart and carrying what appears to be a cake on a large dish (Fig. 48) ; a figure of a goat and head of a wolf, a peacock, and two vase-handles [Illus. Rom. Lond. 74—76 ; Cat. Lond. Antiq. 7—10, Nos. 16, 21, 23, 24, 25] ; three weights, fibulae^ and rings, and many thousands of coins of all periods [Arch, xxix, 161 fF; Arch, yourn. i, 181 ; Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc, iv, 56 ; Gent. Mag. (1855), ii, 80 ; Roach Smith, Retrospections, i, 1 18, 128 ; ii, 206 ; Num. Chron. iv, 147, 187 fF]. In 1840 a curious bronze instrument in the form of a pair of forceps, ornamented with rows of busts (Fig. 47), was also found, and acquired by Roach Smith, from whom it passed to the British Museum. The exact purpose for which this instrument was used is not clear, but it is obviously of a religious or sacrificial character, and M. Cumont connects it with the worship of Mithra. Roach Smith's description (with slight modifications) runs as follows : — 'It consists of two shanks, which, although they are now separated, were evidently joined by a hinge at the upper extremity. The inner sides are denticulated, doubtless for the purpose of squeezing or crushing. . . . The deities represented are : On the right, Cybele, crowned with towers ; Mercury, with wings ; Jupiter, crowned with olive ; Venus ; and Ceres, wearing the calathus. On the left are [Attis], Mars, Diana [or Luna], Apollo [or Sol], and Saturn, all clearly indicated by their attributes. Upon the top, below the busts of [Attis] and Cybele, are heads of horses ; below the other busts heads of bulls ; and heads of lions terminate the handles. The busts are those of the seven planetary deities who presided over the days of the week, arranged in regular order.' Beginning at the bottom of the right-hand portion we have Saturn for Saturday (who as the oldest god was usually reckoned first), Sol (Sunday), Luna (Monday), Mars (Tuesday) ; on the other side, Mercury (Wednesday), Jupiter (Thurs- day), and Venus (Friday) ; Ceres being added to equalize the number on each side, as elsewhere Fortuna or Bonus Eventus is introduced for the sake of symmetry. The two busts on the top, probably Cybele and Attis, refer to the worship of the Phrygian Magna Mater, but the seven planets were honoured in the Mithraic cult, and the lion and bull are suggestive of the same. The cult of the seven planetary deities as ruling human life, originally derived from Babylonian astrology, was introduced into the western world in the Hellenistic Age, and first appears in art in the time of Vespasian ; they are frequently represented on the bases of statues in the neigh- bourhood of the Rhine, dating from the first half of the 3rd century [Arch, xxx, p. 549, pi. 24 ; Coll. Antiq. ii, 60 ; Illus. Rom. Lond. 72 ; Cat. Lond. Antiq. p. 12, No. 29 ; Cumont, Mysteres de Mithra, ii (1896), p. 432, No. 317 ; IVestdeutsche Zeitschrift, ix (1890), p. 44, No. 31 ; Soc. Antiq. MS. Min. xxxviii, 304. On the cult of the seven deities see also V.C.H. Hants, i, 308 ; Bonner Jahrb. iv, 147 ; v, 299 ; Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc, iv, 64 ; Coll. IIO