Relief with the Bona Dea

Found in Portus.
Date: Trajanic. W. 0.52, h. 0.82, d. 0.52.

Brouwer: "The aedicula has four pillars with Corinthian capitals. The front shows a rather deep niche, the two sides have shallower niches. In the front niche a goddess is seated, veiled and dressed in a chiton and mantle; she wears a diadem, and holds in her left arm the cornucopia. The right hand is lost but the pose of the arm is such that it seems probable that the goddess had a bowl in that hand. Traces of the serpent coiling round her arm are clearly visible, but its head drinking from the bowl (we must assume) was broken off together with the hand of the goddess. The figure is seated on a richly ornamented throne with back and arms.
Left niche: A bald man in toga stretches out his right hand to the left - the hand itself is lost. By his right foot is a basket.
Right niche: Victoria is represented. In her right hand the goddess holds a wreath and in her left a palm. She has wings and wears a chiton and mantle.
The aedicula has a base and an architrave, which is heavily damaged. The upper side is flat and plain, from which fact a roof in the form of a pediment may be concluded - now lost."
Greifenhagen: "Die roh behauene Rückseite zeigt, dass der Altar vor einer Wand gestanden hat."

Inv. nr. 348. Morcelli - Fea - Visconti 1869, 61. Brouwer 1989, nr. 68. Photo: Brouwer, 1989, Pl. XXIV.