Final Draft - Preview Matter - Florida State University

suggestion is plausible, but due to the other appearances of the wolf-god in art and the lack of
any other examples of a Lar clad in a wolf-skin, I would argue for identifying the statuette as
Faunus based on the similarity of this figure to Fig. III.12. 367
In the case of the plate and the statuette we cannot say for certain which god is
represented. It could be any one of the wolf-deities discussed in this text. Because of my
hypothesis that Faunus is represented on the cinerary urns depicting a combat with a wolf-god
(Fig. III.10-12), I am inclined to suggest that both the plate and statuette are representations of
the god Faunus. The variance in iconography, a wolf-man on the plate and a god wearing a
wolf-skin in the statuette, can be compared to the varying appearance of the wolf-god on the
cinerary urns. The youth of the statuette, lacking a beard, may parallel the god depicted on the
terracotta urn from Perugia (Fig. III.12). Even so, the lack of a beard does not wholly secure the
identification of these two figures since Tinia is often beardless and youthful as opposed to his
Greek counterpart, Zeus who is regularly shown as an older, bearded male. 368 Youth may also
indicate that the statuette is a representation of Apollo Soranus or uri, but it is difficult to say
for sure since another of the statuette’s details, the hunting boots, may argue for identification as
a rustic deity, such as Faunus.
One last piece that bears discussion is a bronze figurine that defies easy explanation but
has been identified as Herakles due to iconography that makes use of an animal skin and a club-
like weapon (Fig. III.16). This identification is not certain, though, as the animal skin is not that
of a lion, but more likely a wolf, and the weapon could be a lagobolon. The wolf-skin takes the
form of a cap and stops at his shoulders; it does not extend down the back of the figure. If
indeed this figure carries a lagobolon, then the combination of wolf-skin and hunting stick
suggest Faunus instead of Herakles. The most curious characteristic of this figurine is that its
confused with Silvanus and the local deity, Inuus. Capella’s Lar Omnium Cunctalis “All Lar of All Things” may be
considered a rendition of Pan (=omne), who was the Romans’ Faunus or Silvanus. If he is Pan, he supplies an
analogue to the Silvanus Lar agrestis.”
367 Boyce (1937, 58) describes the “usual” type of painted Lar in lararia at Pompeii as “wearing elaborate girded
tunics with loose folds which fly out from their bodies as they dance on the tips of their toes” and holding a rhyton
and/or a situla. He makes no mention of the convention of a Lar clad in a wolf-skin. Orr (1978, 1568-9) describes a
similar iconography and also makes no mention of wolf skins.
368 De Grummond 2006a, 12. When discussing the iconography of Aesculapius, Edelstein and Edelstein (1945, 219)
point out that chronology and local variation can also determine whether or not a god is depicted as bearded or clean
shaven. Thus, the presence of or lack of a beard does not secure the identity of the god.
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