An interesting example (No. =84=) of the practice of dedicating altars
to members of Roman Imperial houses is furnished by the inscription
(fig. 29) in the lower part of Case 98. It formed the front of a
marble altar, and is dedicated to the Imperial Fortune by a freedman
named Antonius, who was in charge of the "Department of Petitions,"
for the safe return of the Emperor Septimius Severus, his wife
Julia Domna, and his sons Caracalla and Geta. But so far as Geta was
concerned, the Imperial Fortune was not propitious. He was murdered by
his brother Caracalla, and his name was erased from this, as from all
other inscriptions throughout the Roman Empire, by Caracalla's edict.
The date of the inscription is about 200 A.D.
In Case 102 is an altar (No. =85=) dedicated to the Bona Dea
of Anneanum (a town in Etruria) by C. Tullius Hesper and Tullia
Restituta. The Bona Dea was a goddess specially invoked by women.
Hence we may suppose that it was Tullia Restituta more particularly
who showed her thankfulness by this dedication.
In Case 98 are two examples (Nos. =86=, =87=) of a combined lamp and
altar, for use in domestic shrines, probably of late Roman date.[18]
In one of these the basin for libations is supported on a pine-cone.
Akin to these is the small limestone cone and altar from the
Cyrenaica.
No. =88= (fig. 30) is a bronze representing an attendant leading a
pig to sacrifice. The pig (as well as the sheep and the bull) was a
favourite sacrificial animal among the Romans. At the lustral ceremony
of the _suovetaurilia_, the bull, sheep, and pig were driven round
the farmer's fields to keep them free from blight and disease. Certain
deities, notably Persephone and the Bona Dea, had swine as their
special victims. In Case 105 will be seen a terracotta votive pig (No.
=89=) found in the precinct of Demeter and Persephone at Knidos.
[Illustration: FIG. 30.--ATTENDANT DRIVING PIG TO SACRIFICE (NO. 88).
Ht. 4 in.]
In Case 98 is an elaborate model in terracotta of a temple laver from
Cyprus (No. =90=). In Case 100 is a terracotta model of a sacred table
(No. =91=, fig. 31), set with a service of vessels for the sanctuary.
[Illustration: FIG. 31.--TABLE WITH SERVICE OF VESSELS (NO. 91). 2:3.]
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