PLATE II.—COURT OF THE TEMPLE OF APOLLO
The herm on the opposite side of the court probably represented Maia. No trace of it has been found; the female herm in the Naples Museum formerly assigned to this place is now known to have been brought from Rome. In Greek mythology, the mother of Hermes was Maia, the daughter of Atlas; and this relationship, by a common confusion, was transferred to the Italian Maia, who was originally goddess of the spring, and gave her name to the month of May. The assignment of the herm opposite Mercury to Maia is based upon a number of inscriptions which establish the existence of a cult of Mercury and Maia in Pompeii. From the same source we learn that with the worship of these two that of Augustus was intimately associated; there are few better illustrations of the development of emperor worship in the Early Empire.
These inscriptions were found in different places, none of them in their original location. They are dedications once attached to votive offerings, of which one was set up each year by a college of priests, consisting of slaves and freedmen, under the general direction of the city authorities. The official title of this college at first, certainly to 14 B.C., was Ministri Mercurii Maiae, 'Servants of Mercury and Maia'; the word minister indicates a low order of priesthood. The worship of the emperor was then added, and the priests were called 'Servants of Augustus, Mercury, and Maia.' Still later, at least as early as 2 B.C., the names of the two divinities were dropped, and the priests were designated simply as 'Servants of Augustus.'
The extant inscriptions of this series come down to the year 40 A.D. As an example, we give that of 2 B.C., in which the ministri Augusti first appear: N. Veius Phylax, N. Popidius Moschus, T. Mescinius Amphio, Primus Arrunti M. s., min. Aug., ex d. d. iussu M. Holconii Rufi IV, A. Clodi Flacci III d. v. i. d., P. Caeseti Postumi, N. Tintiri Rufi d. v. v. a. s. p. p. Imp. Caesare XIII, M. Plautio Silvano cos,—'Numerius Veius Phylax, Numerius Popidius Moschus, Titus Mescinius Amphio and Primus the slave of Marcus Arruntius, Servants of Augustus (set this up), in accordance with a decree of the city council, on the order of Marcus Holconius Rufus, duumvir with judiciary authority for the fourth time, Aulus Clodius Flaccus, duumvir for the third time, and of Publius Caesetius Postumus and Numerius Tintirius Rufus, duumvirs in charge of the streets, buildings, and public religious festivals (the official title of the aediles, [p. 13]) in the thirteenth consulship of the Emperor Caesar (Augustus), the other consul being Marcus Plautius Silvanus.'
It is not difficult to understand how the worship of Augustus came to have a place in this sanctuary. The divinities here honored stood in close relation to him. Apollo was his tutelary divinity, to whom he thought that he owed the victory at Actium, and in whose honor he built the magnificent temple on the Palatine. Venus, moreover, was revered as the ancestress of the Julian family; and finally Mercury was said to be incarnate in Augustus himself.
This last conception found expression in one of the finest of the odes of Horace, written in 28 B.C. Fearful portents, the poet says, are threatening Rome; Jupiter with flaming right hand has even struck his own temple on the Capitoline. To what god shall we turn for help—to Apollo, to Venus, or to Mars? or rather to thee, winged god, Maia's son, that even now doest walk the earth in the form of a youth, the avenger of Caesar:—
Sive mutata iuvenem figura
Ales in terris imitaris almae
Filius Maiae, patiens vocari