TERRACOTTA ANTEFIX, С. 480 ВСЕ. BATHS OF DIOCLETIAN The Sabine town of Antemnæ stood at the point where the Anio river flowed into the Tiber. It was thought by the ancient Romans to be older than Rome itself, and its main religious building was a temple to the goddess Juno Sospita, a quite different and bloodier divinity than the Greek Hera and effectively a different goddess than Juno Regina, wife of Jupiter. She is often depicted wearing a goatskin cloak with its horned hood and ears, rather as Hercules is shown wearing a lionskin or leonté. In this broken antefix from her temple at Antemnæ we can see these characteristics, as well as the painted decoration that shows a red and black checkerboard pattern on the curve between the horns of her cloak. This comes from a cast and closely resembles a similar antefix found on the Palatine.

This splendid terracotta #antefix in medium #relief is my offering for #ReliefWednesday this week. It shows #JunoSospita, a terrifying huntress divinity of the Latial peoples, and comes from the ruins of #Antemnæ, one of the #Sabine towns whose women were taken by #Romulus. #AncientBluesky 🏺