ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 151 
peacock at her feet. Juno Sospita (the Deliverer), also called Lanwvina, 
because she had a similar statue at Lanuvium, was represented altogether 
differently (pl. 20, fig. 12). She wears over her tunic a goat-skin, which 
also covers her head, and pointed shoes, a characteristic of the Egyptian 
pictures of this goddess. She is armed with a lance and shield, the signs 
of her protecting character. The serpent at her feet is an emblem of health, 
for which the people supposed themselves indebted to her. It may also 
refer to the serpent which a little girl of Lanuvium is reported to have fed 
every year in its cave. The coin supporting these devices is a denarius 
of L. Procilius, a triwmvir monetalis (member of the board of magistrates 
who superintended the mint), who chose this device because his family had 
sprung from the city of Lanuvium. 
3. Neprunus (Poseidon) was honored only as the god of horses and the 
protector of cavalry, in those early times when the Romans had no naval 
force; afterwards as monarch of the sea he received a very extensive wor- 
ship. We have copied a fine bust of Neptune (pl. 22, jig. 7), and jig. Ta 
presents him in full length, on a coin of Titus. He is standing with one 
foot on a globe as a sign of his dominion over the earth; with the left hand 
he leans on his sceptre, and with the right he holds an aplustre, an embellish- 
ment on the stern of a ship. 
Fig. 19 is a representation of a sacrifice to Neptune. The statue of the 
god with the trident and dolphin stands on an altar, at whose base we see 
a ship and sea-horse. In front stands a smaller altar, on which the fire is 
burning, and various sacrificial vessels. Priests, surrounded by other 
officers of the temple, are praying to the god, and in the background 
appears the destined victim, festooned with garlands. A feast, instituted in 
honor of Neptune, was celebrated on the 21st of August, termed Consualia, 
from Consus the Etruscan Neptune. At a later period the Weptwalia were 
observed on the 28th of July, and for that purpose green bowers were 
erected on the bank of the Tiber, where refreshments were offered to the 
people who took part in the games of the festival. 
4, Mars or Mavors (Ares), the god of war and son of Jupiter and Juno, 
received among the Romans a far more distinguished worship than Ares 
among the Greeks. The most obvious reason for this lies in the fact. that 
the Romans attained their supremacy by war, and thus felt constrained to 
ascribe their fortune to Mars. ‘They honored him, besides, as the father of 
Romulus, the founder of the kingdom. The mother of Romulus and Remus 
was properly Zlia, also called /’hea Sylvia, daughter of the Albanian King 
Numitor. Pl. 27, fig. 256, represents Mars armed with shield, lance, and 
helmet, and descending to the slumbering Ilia. A herdsman (/austulus) 
reared the twins ; and Romulus subsequently became the founder and first 
king of what was afterwards the great and mighty Roman Empire. It was 
on this account that the Romans called Mars Pater, as the father of their 
first king; and in addition to the temple built to him by Romulus, they 
erected four others, and the successor of Romulus, Numa Pompilius, 
organized for him a regular system of worship. 
The representations of Mars correspond with the Grecian images of Ares, 
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