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2.1 Gods in human form<br />

2.1a Painting of Venus from Pompeü (third quarter of first Century A.D.)<br />

The goddess of love is here shown almost as a female pin-up, displayed on die<br />

garden wall of a wealthy Pompeian house (The House of Marine Venus'). The<br />

particular pose and setting allude to the myth of the Greek goddess Aphrodite,<br />

born from the foam of the sea. Height of painting, 2.43 m.; width 4.54 m.<br />

See further: for discussion ofthe Roman Venus and her 'equivalence' with<br />

Aphrodite, Dumezü (1970) 421-2*; Schilling (1982) 197-294; for the ränge<br />

of representations of Venus at Pompeü, where she was patron of the Roman<br />

colonia, M. Grant (1971) 92-5*.<br />

2. lb Jupiter and the emperor Trajan, from Trojans arch at Beneventum (South<br />

Italy), A.D. 114<br />

Gods and goddesses were regularly associated with che vows, sacrifices and rituals<br />

accompanying Roman warfare. Although Roman historians only rarely<br />

suggest that the gods directly participated in the action, their supportive presence<br />

could be imagined and sometimes portrayed. On this panel (height<br />

2.49 m.; width 2.67 m.) from Trajans arch at Beneventum, Jupiter is shown<br />

literally Standing alongside the emperor, sanctioning a treaty between <strong>Rome</strong><br />

and barbarians.<br />

See further: Vol. 1, 31-2; Fears (1981) 917-18*; Simon (1981) 5-6 and 12,<br />

n. 48; for the monument in general, D. Ε. E. Kleiner (1992) 224-9*; for an<br />

analysis of gods as Citizens', and of their relations with magistrates, Scheid<br />

(1984) 51-7.<br />

27

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