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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;DonnaML, post: 7629985, member: 110350&quot;][USER=78411]@Nicholas Molinari[/USER], I have no knowledge of what, if anything, ancient accounts say about its features and dimensions, but we do have the contemporaneous portrayals of the Meta Sudans on the Colosseum sestertii of Titus. Here are images from acsearch of two of the most expensive -- and presumably authentic -- examples of that coin auctioned in the last 15 years (sold for $463K and $411K, respectively), each showing the Meta Sudans to the left of the Colosseum:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1312632[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1312634[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Each shows (the first one especially clearly) a tripartite object at the top of the Meta Sudans, namely an oblong object with two other objects extending horizontally or diagonally from its bottom, presumably spouts from which water flowed.&nbsp; See <a href="https://romereborn.org/content/meta-sudans" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://romereborn.org/content/meta-sudans" rel="nofollow">https://romereborn.org/content/meta-sudans</a> , comparing this tripartite object to a flower shape with three petals.&nbsp; The tripartite object apparently belongs to the general category of an acroterium.*</p><p><br /></p><p>Certainly, the tripartite object at the top of the Meta Sudans on the Colosseum coins is rather similar to what&#039;s portrayed on the Paris example of the Meta Sudans sestertius.</p><p><br /></p><p>On the other hand, apart from any other differences, the 17th century prints all seem to show a spherical object at the top, some of them (like the one for which I posted the link and you posted the image) also depicting streams of water emerging either directly from that object, or from what look like they may be small water spouts on the top of the sphere.&nbsp; The artists who created these prints may not have had easy access to the Colosseum coins or prints of them, of course.** The British Museum example also has a spherical or oblong object at the top, and if you use your imagination I suppose you can sort of see traces of an object on either side of it. The [USER=99412]@PeteB[/USER] example has a sphere at the top, and I see no traces of anything else. Anyone can draw whatever conclusions they wish.</p><p><br /></p><p>* See the extensive discussion of the Meta Sudans (as depicted on the Colosseum coins and otherwise), and of parallel objects (including similar fountains in the provinces, several of them depicted on provincial coins), using the &quot;acroterium&quot; terminology for the object crowning the cone, in Longfellow, Brenda. “Reflections of Imperialism: The Meta Sudans in Rome and the Provinces.” <i>The Art Bulletin, vol. 92, no. 4, 2010</i>, pp. 275–292. JSTOR, <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/29546132" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/29546132" rel="nofollow">www.jstor.org/stable/29546132</a>. Accessed 2 June 2021.&nbsp; The article suggests that the entire conical shape of the Meta Sudans may have been intended to represent a baetyl, a representation particularly evident in the shape of its recently-excavated predecessor, the Augustan Meta Sudans. See also the discussion at <a href="https://www.timetravelrome.com/2019/08/17/meta-sudans-rediscovered-coins-other-stories/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.timetravelrome.com/2019/08/17/meta-sudans-rediscovered-coins-other-stories/" rel="nofollow">https://www.timetravelrome.com/2019/08/17/meta-sudans-rediscovered-coins-other-stories/</a>; <a href="https://colosseumrometickets.com/meta-sudans/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://colosseumrometickets.com/meta-sudans/" rel="nofollow">https://colosseumrometickets.com/meta-sudans/</a> (&quot;The ancient sources record that the house that was the birthplace of Augustus stood in this part of the valley: the conical shape, so original for a fountain, has therefore been explained by scholars as an allusion to the betyl, the aniconic symbol of Apollo, the god whom Augustus recognised as his patron&quot;).</p><p><br /></p><p>** Just to give an idea of what actually remained of the Meta Sudans around the 17th and 18th centuries, here are two prints from that period, both showing the Meta Sudans as little more than a stump:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1312647[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1312648[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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