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Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales
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Roman ceramic antefix
Boon Type Aii1 antefix with two dolphins, heads down, backs arched so that their snouts are opposed at the bottom and their tails meet at the top. Seated on them, facing us, is a small nude male figure. A palm frond on either side. A dolphin rider appears on the Gundestrup Cauldron as a reniniscence of the soul's journey to the Fortunate Iles, but the context is not funerary here.
Dolphins, 'womb-fish' from Greek delphys, 'womb', are symbols of prosperity and good fortune and so occur with some frequency among the wall-paintings of Pompeii either by themselves or else ridden or driven by Cupids. Dolphins were sacred to Venus, and Cupid was her offspring; Venus was the legendary ancestress of the Julian house and therefore the ultimate 'mother of the Legion'.
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Site Name: British Telecom Site, Caerleon
Notes: Excavation conducted on land immediately to the east of the telephone exchange on Museum Street.