I am looking for images of Sol or Helios that are not in the LIMC or my catalogue, and that can be associated with a firm date of production (e.g. dedicatory inscription) or deposition (dated stratigraphy). In other words, depictions for which a terminus ad or ante quem can be established on purely independent grounds, without recourse to iconography or style. For my catalogue see: http://dissertations.ub.rug.nl/faculties/arts/2009/s.e.hijmans/vol1/
click on "hoofdstuk 4"; the chapter itself is in English.
I know one statue which was found in an informal excavation . it is in Indian context ....statue of god sun. ascending on a chariot pulling by seven horses.
Hi Krishn. That sounds very interesting. Could you give me any further information about it?
Hello,
Look into coinage, that should give you clearly dated materials for Helios/Sol.
Victor Stolberg
Coins have certainly been helpful. The problem with coins is that the choice of reverse images is a political one, and the presence or absence of a given image in a particular period cannot be taken as indicative of the (im)popularity of that figure in said period. Sol occurs sporadically on coins until the end of the Republic, then almost disappears from Roman Imperial coinage for two centuries (exceptions under the Flavians and one or two others), and then becomes a regular from the Severi onwards. The story with inscriptions is very different however; they document a solid presence of Sol in Rome - temples, priests, and all - throughout the first and second century AD. The same is true in the case of lamps. But difficult objects (in terms of dating), like bronze statuettes, all tend to be ascribed to the the "2nd-3rd" c., except when they come from stratified contexts, when their date can often be ignificantly earlier.
The attached statue (Roman) from Antiocheia of Pisidia (Turkey today) of Helios resembles the statue of Liberty. It is well known, you can get an exact date from the description of the archeological site.
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