ALTAR MOUNTS  
Lucentum, Tossal de Manises (Alicante)

Bronze
Plaque: h: 5.7 cm; w: 21.5 cm; th: 0.3 cm.
Bucranium: h: 7-7.7cm; w: 6.2 cm; th: 1-1.6 cm
Urceus: h: 8.7 cm; w: 3.9 cm; th: 0.8 cm
Lituus: l: 10.5 cm; w: 3.5 cm; th: 0.4 cm
Cornucopia: l: 9.1cm; w: 4 cm; th: 1.5 cm
Roman
1st century AD


 

Ritual bronze decorated plaque and mounts. The plaque is decorated on the top and bottom by a denticulated fillet, with the central decoration composing of a Lesbos style trilobulated cyma with alternating lotus leaves and chalices with two sepals, two petals, a pistil and finally an astragal. On one side, the cyma ends in an angular motif formed by a leaf with incised veins.
The three bucrania, the cornucopia, the urceus and the lituus, as well as other fragments of similarly decorated plaques would have been attached to an altar. They were found during the cleaning of the surface of the site at the end of the 1970s.

The plaque and the mounts would have decorated a stone altar or pedestal. The mounts, such as the urceus or jug and the lituus, (which represents the curved staff of the augurs used to mark out a ritual space in the sky in divinization ceremonies) had a religious significance and were used by the Roman priests. The ox skulls (bucrania) symbolize the animals sacrificed and they have infulas, which they would have been decorated with during the ritual. The cornucopia (horn) alludes to abundance, to the prosperity of the State and it is attributed to different deities such as Fortuna, Ceres and Cybeles.
A large number of these mounts have been found throughout the Roman Empire including, in Hispania, the sites of Ampurias and Ercávica (Cuenca). The ritual objects and symbols are frequently represented on coins and carved stone relieves on altars as well as on architectural friezes, such as the especially important and beautiful entablature of the temple of Vespasian in Rome.
These objects were originally placed on a pedestal or altar in a sacred area or building in the forum of the Roman town of Lucentum.
C.S.: 6058
Unpublished.