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3.4 Attis

Attis, consort of the eastern fertility goddess Cybele, like Apollo, can be a hard figure to identify. His primary identifying feature is the Phrygian cap, but while this item of clothing is not exclusive to Attis, it has led to a number of figures, or more often fragments consisting only of the head such as 441 from Mildenhall, Suffolk, being identified as this god. The best example in Britain is from London in which, in addition to the Phrygian cap, he is shown wearing open-fronted trousers and holding up bunches of grapes (12). A direct parallel to this piece comes from Trier (Menzel 1966, Taf. 99 no. 58a). In two other examples (910 and 1156) the figure depicted is rather feminine, with small breasts. He is fully clothed, and while 910 wears a cap, 1156 wears a hooded cape. Green (1976, 1919) suggests that Figurine 373 from Southbroom, Wiltshire, could be Attis on the basis of his cap, which has a long, curling point. However, Boon (1973, 267) suggests that the cap could be a badly represented helmet crest and that this is Mars. This unusual figure, who also wears a knee-length, pleated tunic and holds an unidentified object in his left hand, is part of a hoard in which several other figurines are unusual types, and for now the identity of this figure remains uncertain.

Hand 630, which holds a pine branch, was found on the temple site at Hockwold-cum-Wilton, Norfolk, and may also have come from a figurine of Attis. Attis is associated with the pine, the tree under which he died.


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