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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;David Atherton, post: 2290660, member: 82616&quot;]Steve had asked earlier in this thread what the figures on the roof of the temple are. The question (thanks Steve!) actually had me pondering about the figures on the pediment, and I could not find a description of the reverse in any of my references that answered the question. Luckily, I keep all my auction catalogues in a box and dug out the Gemini IX which had a listing for the type.</p><p><br /></p><p>Curtis Clay&#039;s description in full: &quot;Apart from being simplified to show only four columns instead of six, the temple on the cistophori differs in some details from its depiction on two sestertius reverse dies of Vespasian&#039;s reign, as described by Colin Kraay in Appendix E of his unpublished Oxford dissertation. For example Jupiter holds a patera in his right hand on the cistophori, but a thunderbolt on the sestertii. Minerva holds the Palladium in her right hand on the cistophori, but rests her right hand on a shield on the sestertii. The sculptures in the pediment are quite different: two anguiped monsters holding a facing bust on a base on the cistophori, but on the sestertii a central group of one seated and two standing figures, with groups of two Titans forging arms at an anvil to both left and right. Finally the cistophori shows bigas at the bottom corners of the pediment roof, where the sestertii have large eagles instead. It is difficult to decide whether these differences represent actual sculptural changes made in Titus&#039; reconstruction of the temple, or are merely inventions of Titus&#039; type designer without basis in reality.&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>Hold on to you old auction catalogues![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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