Hercules (Moll)

A depiction of a male statue with twin snakes discovered in 1714 in the Southbroom Hoard near Devizes, Wiltshire, from the figures decorating the margins of Moll's map of "Dorset Shire" (Dorset), the fifth in his Set of Fifty New and Correct Maps of England and Wales... The figure was placed on the map of a different county for want of room.

The cast bronze statue is now held by the British Museum (1811,0309.2). Moll copied the figure's appearance and identification from Musgrave's 1719 account of the hoard, although the actual figure's pleated skirt appears as pants here. The headwear is unclear in Moll's picture but is a raven with missing head over or forming part of a helmet with a visible chinstrap. Musgrave identified it as Figure 4 (M4) while Durham categorized it as #371. Musgrave identified the figure as Hercules, taking it as showing him strangling the snakes in adulthood rather than infancy. Modern scholarship either takes it as an "uncertain Celtic" deity or as a Romano-British form of Mars, from iconography in other locations that share the ram-horned snake and raven attributes.

Notes: These Houshold Gods in number 19 with a Medal of Alexander Severus were found at the Devizes An. 1714 and are supposed to have been bury'd there in 234. the Rest for want of Room are placed in Dorset and Hampshires yat are barren of Antiquities; we being unwilling to omit such great Curiosities.

London: Sold by H. Moll over-against Devereux-Court in the Strand; Tho. Bowles, Print and Map-Seller near the Chapter-House in St. Paul's Church-Yard, and J. Bowles Print and Map-Seller over-against Stocks-Market. 1724.

Français : Sujet : Antiquités romaines
Amphithéâtres
Divisions politiques et administratives
Dorset, Comté de -- Divisions politiques et administratives
Échelle(s) : 10 English Miles [= 4,2 cm]
Référence bibliographique : 173
Appartient à l’ensemble documentaire : AnvilEur
Appartient à l’ensemble documentaire : MAEDI008
Appartient à l’ensemble documentaire : MAEDIGen0
Couverture : Royaume-Uni – Angleterre – Dorset

Langue : anglais