83 



at Corinth ; also the Goddess Hegiea is usually represented as 

 feeding a serpent from a bowl or cup. The bowl, or large cup, 

 upon the Sculpture may also indicate the healing waters of the 

 Bath Thermal Spring. 



The dog also is not only a symbol of ^sculapius, the god of 

 healing, but represents also the Dog Star, (kvwv) adopted by the 

 ilomans from the Greeks, and indicating the passage of the sun 

 into the constellation Leo. The season known as the "Dies 

 Caniculares." The dog may therefore here be an emblem of the 

 heat of the thermal springs. 



It is not unworthy of remark how the " serpent " enters con- 

 tinually into the ancient Sculptures found in Bath. The drawings 

 of the Sculptures given by Guidott in his work, formerly to be 

 seen in the city walls, contain two representations of figures, one 

 of which, apparently a female, carries two serpents ; this figure is 

 nude, the other, apparently a male figure, is clothed and carries 

 one serpent. Two heads are represented as covered with hair 

 formed of serpents, and serpents are sculptured in the hair and 

 beard of the head of Medusa, which formed the centre of the 

 pediment of the temple, — the remains of which are now in the 

 portico of the Literary and Scientific Institution. All these seem 

 to be emblematic of the healing properties of the thermal springs, 

 which have been for so many hundred years celebrated, and 

 granted, as Solinus expresses it, " ad usus mortalium." 



The chief Altars found in Bath are dedicated to the goddess Sul, 

 or Sul-Minerva. The British goddess being associated with the 

 Eoman. But the Eoman Minerva was the same as the Greek 

 Athena, and Athena was the goddess of health as well as of the 

 arts and sciences. According to Proclus, a late Eoman writer, 

 H A©HNA NIKH Trpoaayopeverai km YFIEIA. Athena or 

 Minerva is called victory and health, and this leads me to the 

 conclusion that the Sculpture represents ^sculapius making an 

 offer to Hegiea, the goddess of health, and that she is the 

 presiding goddess of the thermal springs. 



