of the same type as that of Prémeaulx; moreover, he states that one was discovered at Metz, and that a ring found at Vendeuil-Caply (Oise) has the same image cut on it. These serve to show that the cult of the god in question was not confined to the south of Gaul.
M. Mowat associates all these with Esus as Silvanus, and adds to them a remarkable altar from Ober-Seebach, near Strasbourg, which represents the god supporting himself with his right hand on a hammer with a long handle and holding a cylindrical vase in the other, while to the left at his feet is seen a dog, the habitual companion of Silvanus,[1] and on the right a female figure in a long robe, with her hand on a cornucopia. In the next place he calls attention to an inscription found at Carlsburg in Transylvania, which reads: Silvano Dom. Terrae Matri, Herculi, Sacrum.[2] Both M. Mowat and M. Gaidoz seem to be in the main right, and the solution of the difficulty is to be sought in the character of the Gaulish god, who was in all probability, like Thor, not only the hammerer but also the friend of the farmer, one most laborious part of whose work consisted in cutting down the woods and forests that confined the domain of the ancient plough and hoe: perhaps it would be more correct to regard him as armed with the thunderbolt or hammer as being, and
- ↑ According to M. A. de Barthélemy, the dog lias three heads, so that he treats it as a Cerberus (Rev. Celt. i. 3), and the same view is adopted by M. Flouest (Rev. Arch. 1885, v. 20). An engraving of the altar will be found in the Rev. Arch. 1879, xxxvij. pl. xii, and another in a previous volume, 1854, where M. Chardin also gives the dog three heads, p. 310.
- ↑ Bull, épig. de la Gaule, i. 65; Berlin Corpus, iij. 1152, where Mommsen suggests that the second word was meant to be domestico; but the reading of the letters originally written is difficult.
