A Note on the Cognomina of Legio XX

Abstract

provided on the one hand by the pruning-knife in the Phrygian youth's right hand, a reference to his subsequent self-emasculation, and on the other by the single dominant tree behind him, which could allude either to the almond-tree from whose fruit Attis was conceived or to the fir-tree into which he was ultimately metamorphosized (the former is more likely, to judge from the leaves). If the figure were the shepherd Paris, one might expect to see some reference to his flocks in addition.39 At Brading, admittedly, the pruning-knife is exchanged for a less macabre attribute, the syrinx;'0 but the resemblances to the Pompeian figure-types confirm the identification of Attis and the nymph. This conclusion disrupts Stupperich's neat programme, by which the four scenes in the pavement would all symbolize 'means of man's support': Demeter-Ceres and Triptolemus (agriculture), Lycurgus and Ambrosia (viticulture), Paris and Oenone (cattle-breeding), and possibly Neptune and Amymone (fishing). But mythological scenes associated in the same mosaic pavement, or in the same roomdecoration in general, are not always united by a common theme; moreover a scene of Paris and Oenone is not a particularly good allegory of cattle-breeding. For the three better-preserved scenes in the Brading mosaic we might think rather of a programme linking the mystery-cults. the Eleusinian mysteries, the Dionysiac mysteries, and the cult of Attis and Cybele. Unfortunately the fourth and partially destroyed scene does not seem to fit this programme, since its subject looks like an amorous pursuit. Stupperich's Neptune and Amymone is a plausible enough identification, but not a compelling one: there is no sign of a trident in the preserved part of the panel. Several divine philanderers come to mind, and further speculation is unprofitable.