39 
and still retains traces of the white paint with which it seems 
to have been covered. It is possible also that on certain special 
occasions it was carried about in procession, shoulder high, as 
may he seen in some of the sculptures from Nineveh. It has 
been designedly injured ; the head is gone, and the inscription 
is mutilated. This is probably another example of early 
Christian intolerance. The reading of the inscription has taxed 
the ingenuity of many. 
I shall now give you, with some remarks of my own, a short 
abstract of a learned paper on the subject by Professor Hiibner, 
of Berlin, which he has published in the Transactions of the 
Archseologists of Bonn. Dr. Hiibner, before explaining his 
own views, takes the Aristotelian method of shewing how 
each of the previous interpretations is inaccurate. The letter 
D, as he observes, in the left corner, might pre-suppose the 
existence of M on the opposite side, which is now broken 
away. If the M was intended for Manihus, we have a 
fimereal inscription; but, independently of anything else, 
the winged figure of the deity forbids such a supposition. 
Another suggested reading has been Deo Magno Volusius 
Irenceus Arimanio Now Arimanius was an Eastern 
deity, representing the minister of evil, in opposition to 
Mithras. This reading, however, cannot be assented to, as the 
last letter in the word Arimanius upon the stone is not 0, but 
a portion of H or Y. 
Then, again, it has been conjectured that on the right hand 
corner there might have been the letter M as an abridgment 
for Mithrce, the Sun-god, the beneficent source of life and heat. 
This is possible, but at present there is no recorded instance of 
M by itself, standing for Mithras. He is generally addressed 
as Deo Soli invicto ; oi: D SIM, that is, Deo Soli invicto Mithrw, 
or Mithrce C(auto) D(ati)^ and it would not be easy for the 
sculptor to find room for all these letters in the right-hand 
corner; nor does the figure in any way resemble the representa¬ 
tions of Mithras. Another reading is Deo 3Iagno Volcano 
Irenceus et Arimanius posuerunt. Against this there is the fact 
that Yulcan never appears under the form of Vol. Besides, 
he is never represented with wings, and the hammer and tongs 
are more congenial to him than the staff and keys. 
F 
