CIMRM Supplement - Spurious: Bronze statuette of "Mithras-Sabazios" (actually the moon god Men Askaenos) sold at Christies in 2010


Statuette of Men. British Museum. By Roger Pearse, April 2014.

Caption to Men statuette.

"Sale 7207, lot 199. Sold for 12,500 GBP ($20,138). London, 25 October 2012. Site states: "A Roman group of Mithras-Sabazios. Ca. 2-3rd century A.D. The god shown mounted on horseback, wearing Phrygian cap, tunic and close-fitting trousers, chlamys falling down his back, a broad V-shaped collar across chest terminating with the horns of the crescent moon on each shoulder, holding a patera in outstretched right hand, a pinecone in left, behind a separately-made silver luna with punched dotted decoration attached with bronze belt, the horse standing on integral base with right foreleg raised, wearing lionskin and beaded necklace with amulet in the shape of the crescent moon, hair and mane flowing with stylised topknot between ears. 8.5 in. (21.5 cm.) high max." Provenance was the London art market in the 1970's."

Update: A correspondent writes to say that this is a statuette of Men Askaenos, the Anatolian moon god whose temple is known at Pisidian Antioch. (See Wikipedia article). The monuments of this deity were published in Lane, Eugene, Corpus Monumentorum Religionis Dei Menis, EPRO 19 (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1971-1978), 4 vols. I do not know whether this item is catalogued in that work.


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