362 Coventinas Fountain, by the Rev. J. C. Bruce, LL.D. 



These are shown on the page opposite. They have evidently 

 been of local manufacture, for they differ in every respect 

 from the vessels usually found in Roman stations. Each 

 of them bears an inscription which had been cut on the 

 vessel before being burnt, by some sharp-pointed instrument. 

 Upon one of them the inscription reads : 



coventina[e] a[v]gvsta[e] votv[m] manibvs svis satvrn- 

 invs fecit gabinivs — " Saturninus Gabinius with his own hands 

 made this offering to Coventina Augusta." On the other vase a 

 similar inscription occurs, but in a more contracted form. 



These vases may have been used for holding flowers, or other 

 offerings to the nymph, and they would occupy a prominent 

 position in the temple of the goddess. 



A little below the vases, near the N.W. side of the well, other 

 ten altars were found all together, lying in a heap. 



Resting on the bottom of the well, though still surrounded 

 by a mass of coins, bones, gravel, and pottery, were found two 

 more altars and a slab, bearing, in addition to a dedicatory in- 

 scription, a sculptured representation of the water deity herself. 

 This is represented in the woodcut opposite page 365. None 

 of these objects were lying flat, as we should expect they 

 would, if thrown by themselves into a well filled with water. 

 The slab was on its end, leaning slightly towards the north wall 

 of the well, though not touching it in consequence of intervening 

 matter ; the two altars were also standing on their bases, though 

 leaning somewhat to one side. 



The bottom of the well, as I have remarked already, was un- 

 paved, and consisted of sand and gravel. Several little conical 

 heaps of sand were found on the bottom ; they having no doubt 

 been formed by the gushing upwards of the water in various 

 minute springs. The bottom of the well was probed by an iron 

 bar, but no obstruction was met with. Some of the coins had, 

 however, sunk into the earth, below the bottom of the well. 



The slab bearing the image of the goddess represents her 

 seated upon a gigantic leaf of the water lily. Her garments 

 float as moved by the stream ; her left hand rests upon a globular 

 vase from which flows a stream of water ; in her right hand she 

 holds a branch, perhaps of olive, or perhaps of some water plant. 

 The inscription bears testimony to the fact that the dedicator in 

 this case is no less a personage than Titus Domitius Cosconianus, 



