Puteal with deities

Puteal with deities

The puteal is decorated in the upper part with a Lesbian cyma and in the lower part with a Lesbian and an Ionian cyma; it is decorated all around with a series of seven figures in high relief depicting the main male deities of the Greek pantheon. Zeus, with a bearded face, is shown semi-nude, sitting facing right on a throne, with his feet on an altar step; he is portrayed in a thoughtful pose, leaning one arm against the backrest, facing towards a small pillar on which there is an eagle with spread wings holding a bolt of lightning in its claws. Ares, dressed in an exomis (light tunic) and sandals, and wearing a helmet, holds a spear in his left hand and a sword with baldric in the right; next to him, stands Apollo, half-dressed, leaning with his left elbow on a pillar on which there is a cithara, while holding a plectrum in his right hand. To his right, on the ground, there is an omphalos, a symbolic representation of the centre of the Earth. Next to him is the bearded figure of Asclepius, leaning with his right shoulder on his snake staff. Beside him is the clean-shaven figure of Dionysius, wearing an ivy wreath and a cloak on his left shoulder and on the lower part of his body; he holds a thyrsus in his right hand and a kantharos in his left. Next comes Heracles, also clean-shaven, with a lion skin wrapped around his left arm, while with his right hand he leans his club on the ground. The last figure is Hermes, with a chlamys on his left shoulder and a petasus (wide-brimmed hat) behind him, while in his left hand he holds the caduceus leaning against his shoulder. This elegant sculpture, made in the shape of a real well, might well have served as a wash basin, as the sealed base would suggest.