Ancient Roman Bronze Deer with eagle associated with Jupiter Dolicheno. 1st – 2nd century AD. 7 cm height.

Deer with eagle associated with Jupiter Dolicheno.

Ancient Roman, Asia Minor, 1st – 2nd century AD.

Bronze.

7 cm height.

CONDITION: Good condition, intact. Only part of the deer's tail has been lost.

PROVENANCE: Private collection, Paris, France. 1960–1970.

DESCRIPTION:

Roman statuette cast in lost wax bronze, in a round shape, representing a deer with an eagle perched between its horns. The animal is placed on a flat rectangular base that shows two holes, indicating that the figure would have originally been attached to a larger object, perhaps a banner, a larger sculpture, a piece of furniture or even a cart. The deer, with a naturalistic and stylized anatomy, appears standing with its four legs resting on the ground, its head erect. Between the two large horns, open to the sides, the eagle is also placed in a resting position, with its wings folded and its head turned to the left.

This is one of the best-known manifestations of the motif of the eagle perched on a quadruped, usually a bull or a deer, whose origin is found in religious representations of the Near East dating back to the Bronze Age. Most Roman representations of the subject, mostly small bronzes, seem to come from Anatolia and northern Syria (fig. 1). The most common type in Asia Minor is the representation of the bird on a bull, which can appear completely or only its head. The formula that replaces the bull with a deer was also very popular, both in its full and abbreviated version (fig. 2). Other less frequent variations feature a goat or ram, and rare pieces have been found with the eagle perched on a dolphin, a wild boar or a camel.

The motif of the eagle on the head of a deer is associated in Rome with the figure of Jupiter Dolicheno (fig. 3), the result of the syncretization of the Roman Jupiter and the eastern god Baal worshiped in the city of Doliche , present-day Dülük , in Turkey. Already in Greek times, the identification of Zeus with Baal had occurred, under the figure of Zeus Oromasdes . Jupiter Dolichenus was especially popular among Roman troops, who spread it throughout the empire. By the 2nd century AD, his cult had spread from the eastern Mediterranean to Rome and other areas of the Roman Empire, especially those with important border garrisons. However, this cult will not last long; The prestige of Jupiter Dolichen's power will not survive the destruction of his main sanctuary during Shapur I's sack of Dolich in 256, since his cult had become closely associated with the sacredness of the city.

Son of the bull-god, Baal was represented as a young warrior or as a calf, holding a lightning bolt that alluded to his connection with rain and storm and which is the main attribute of the Greek Zeus and the Roman Jupiter. That is why Jupiter Dolicheno will be represented in the attire of a Roman soldier, standing on a bull and holding the thunderbolt. Although the iconography of the eagle on a quadruped is much older in the Near East, in the Roman world it was quickly associated with Jupiter since the eagle was the main way of representing the king of the gods in animal form.

The replacement of the bull by the deer may respond to the link between Jupiter Dolicheno and Diana, a relationship that is not well understood today but that affects the complex syncretic character of this deity. Although most of the small bronzes with the eagle and the deer lack inscriptions, their connection to Jupiter Dolichenus is confirmed by an inscribed marble sculpture with the same motif, which was found in the sanctuary of this god in the Esquiline of Rome.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

- BLÖMER, M.; CROWTHER, C. “Eagle son Stags. An underground sanctuary in Perrhe, Commagene”, Kult und Herrschaft am Euphrat, pp. 343-371. Forschungsstelle Asia Minor im Seminar für Alte Geschichteder Westfälischen Wilhelms-Universität Münster. 2014.
- ELVIRA BARBA, M.A. Arte y Mito. Manual de iconografía clásica. Sílex. 2008.
- NASH-WILLIAMS, V.E. “Iuppiter Dolichenus”, Greece & Rome, vol. 21, no. 62, pp. 72-77. 1952.
- SPEIDEL, M. The Religion of Jupiter Dolichenus in the Roman Army. Brill. 1978.

PARALLELS:

Fig. 1 Votive statuette of an eagle on the head of a deer. Anatolia , Roman Empire, s. I BC . – IV AD Bronze. Musée du Louvre, Paris, inv. AM 410.

Fig. 2 Eagle statuette on the head of a deer. Roman Empire, s. II-III AD Bronze. J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles (USA), inv. 78 .AC.336 .

Fig. 3 Statue of Jupiter Dolichene . Roman Empire, first half s. III AD Bronze. Kunst Historisches Museum Vienna, Austria.







Notes:
- The piece includes authenticity certificate.
- The piece includes Spanish Export License.
- The seller guarantees that he acquired this piece according to all national and international laws related to the ownership of cultural property. Provenance statement seen by Catawiki.
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