Folia archeologica 45.

Beszédes József: Dioscuros ábrázolású sarokkő Alsóhetényből

168 MIHÁL.Y NAGY Fig. 9. Mount fragment with Bellerophon and Euterpe from the Lovas caskel 9. ábra Veret részlete Bellerophónnal és Euterpével a lovasi ládikáról the club into an object resembling a fishing rod. Since the figure of Heracles was copied here, we may identify this representation with his Germanic equivalent, Thor, fishing the Midgard Serpent from the Ocean. We know again very far parallels to this representation, on the above mentioned Gosforth Cross, and on the Stone of Altuna.

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6 The heads of the serpents held by the goddess on the Lovas casket are missing now, so we do not know anything about their original shape. Gods holding two ram-headed snakes in their hands are known from Roman Britain; of these only a figure identified as the Celtic god Cernunnos may be related with the picture on our panel.

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7 The mythological significance of the two serpents in the hands of the goddess and the two horses trampling on the tails of them is not clear; but the long serpent around the piece of earth, from which the deity emerges, embodies the Midgard Serpent, swimming around the earth in the ocean. "

4 The style of these horse representations is very closely related to some artefacts found in Germanic context, especially in the find of Thorsberg.

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9 Regarding the goddess with serpents, usually symbolizing the earth, she seems to correlate with the hunting goddes on the first panel, and we may assume, that two epiphanies of the same deity, originally of chthonic and vegetation character were portrayed here, possibly those of a Germanic goddes whose name in the Roman period is unknown, but called Freyja or Vanadis in later sources. The two 5

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De Vries 1957, 144, Pl. XVII To the connection between Thor and the column, see: p. 389-390. Thor's fishing: p. 142-143 and 265; furthermore Gschwantler 1968, 166-167. 5

7 Green 1983, 63, PI. 45: Cernunnos with two, ram-horned snakes from Cirencester; Green 1992, 143: bronze Mars holding two, ram-headed snakes, from Southbroom. 5

8 About serpents and horses in northern chthonic fertility cults set:: De Vries 1957:1, 362. The Dioscuri may appear in the form of horses as well cf. vol II, 253. T he Midgard Serpent swimming around the earth: 1:265. 5

9 Werner 1941, PI. 7:5; 7:7 and 7:8; cf. Hagberg 1967, 56, Fig. 46; and Lund-Hansen et al. 1995, 143, Fig. 4:6a.