The next figure is Minerva. She wears a helmet, and her breast is adorned with the Gorgon’s head. A spear is in her left hand. The thumb and first two fingers of her right hand are uplifted, as if in the act of bestowing a benediction.
The next figure is supposed to be Juno, though no symbol is given by which she can be decisively distinguished. Her right hand is uplifted in a manner similar to Minerva’s. At her feet lies a dead buck.
Vesta succeeds. She is seated; part of her peplus or mantle is drawn over her head; the two fore-fingers of her left hand, which is apparently resting upon her bosom, are upraised. Beneath the goddess is an altar with the fire burning.
On the right of the piece is Apollo, standing under a canopy. His bow is in his left hand, a flower in his right. His lyre is on the ground by his side, and a griffin is below him.
An eagle and some other birds are among the branches of the tree in the upper part of the piece.
Under the whole representation some recondite meaning is probably concealed, which can only be a subject of conjecture. (See Hodgson’s Northumberland, II. iii. 246.)
GREEK ALTAR.
Two important altars, with Greek inscriptions have been found at Corbridge. One is dedicated to the Tyrian Hercules; the other, which is represented in the adjoining wood-cut, to Astarte, the Ashtaroth of the Scriptures.
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