Roman sculpture from Augustus to Constantine . hgoddesses lay a hand caressingly upon the cone. Thus anew Capitoline Triad rises before us, in which the placeof Jupiter Optimiis is usurped by the Oriental emblemof Sol invictus. This scene does not merely illustratethe caprice of a young fanatic, the shameless rascalfrom Syria who, dishonouring the name and throne ofthe Antonines, dared to force the gods of Rome ascommon mortals into the service of his Kaaba (Stud-niczka). For us the scene has a much deeper significance,for it is the first time that the free Pagan divinities ofancient Greece an
Roman sculpture from Augustus to Constantine . hgoddesses lay a hand caressingly upon the cone. Thus anew Capitoline Triad rises before us, in which the placeof Jupiter Optimiis is usurped by the Oriental emblemof Sol invictus. This scene does not merely illustratethe caprice of a young fanatic, the shameless rascalfrom Syria who, dishonouring the name and throne ofthe Antonines, dared to force the gods of Rome ascommon mortals into the service of his Kaaba (Stud-niczka). For us the scene has a much deeper significance,for it is the first time that the free Pagan divinities ofancient Greece and Rome are brought into direct sub-ordination to a foreign Deity. Already on the altar ofthe arch at Benevento we saw the old Capitoline Triadhanding over the symbols of power to the RomanEmperor. But now they have neared by a mighty stepthe period of their complete eclipse. To the right of this scene, on the front face of the * The picture of the progress of Elagabalus from Syria to Romeshould be read in Gibbon, vol. i. p. 144 f. (ed. Bury).. SEVERUS TO DIOCLETIAN 309 capital, the sacrifice of the bull in honour of the in-vincible god is represented. In reality the Emperorofficiated himself on these occasions, but on the capitalthe scheme reproduced is that of the bull-slayingVictory of Hellenic art, made so familiar throughout theRoman Empire by adaptation to the group of MithrasTauroktonos which we shall consider next. Behindthe Victory and the bull, lies the goddess Tellus withher horn of abundance and the child at her side, pre-cisely as on the armour of Augustus. The learned inter-preter of this interesting monument almost apologizesfor having to place so fine a work of art in the periodof Elagabalus (he comments on its hervorragendeSchonheit.) Let us rather accept with gladness thisfurther proof of the vitality which sustained Romansculpture even through periods of comparative depres-sion and dulness. The technique of the capital clearlydeclares its date. The relief is d
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