Detail of a Statuette of Mars Cobannus in the Getty Villa, July 2008

Statuette of Mars Cobannus
Unknown
Gallo-Roman, A.D. 125 - 175
Bronze
29 15/16 in.
96.AB.54

A youthful figure wears a typical costume for the northern Roman provinces: a long-sleeved tunic, leggings, and a cloak fastened with a round brooch. On his head he wears a contemporary Roman helmet, rather than the classicizing headgear found on most Roman sculpture. The whites of his eyes are silvered and the irises drilled. The figure's pose looks odd now, but he originally held a spear in his upraised right hand and rested his left hand on a shield. The Latin inscription on the base reads, "Sacred to the venerable god Cobannus, Lucius Maccius Aeternus, duumvir , [dedicated this] in accordance with a vow." The statue probably represents Cobannus, a local deity who was equivalent to Mars, the Roman god of war. The family of Lucius Maccius Aeternus is known from other inscriptions in Gaul and must have been important, for a duumvir was one of the two chief magistrates of a Roman colony.

This statuette is said to have been found in France, in the Roman province of Gaul, along with the Pair of Portrait Busts and the Offering Box. These pieces were probably all displayed together in a local shrine of the Iuventus, a Roman youth organization.

Text from: www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artObjectDetails?artobj=35424