3o8 Tlic European Sky-god.
" The tree has a god within it and is worshipped with flaming altars."-^ This statement is borne out by the coin- types of Asia Minor. Coins of Aphrodisias in Caria repre- sent a sacred tree fenced in and flanked by two lighted altars : -^' coins of Attuda, a tree with a single lighted altar in front of it.^^^ Coins of Sardes show Zeus AuSto? on a pedestal beneath a poplar-tree : before him blazes a large altar decorated with figures in relief; and amid the flames can be distinguished the heads of four bulls. ~^^ On coins of Mastaura in Lydia a lighted altar stands garlanded beside a cypress-tree.^"° Coins of Mostene have the same scene with the addition of a male figure on horseback carry- ing a double -axe and wearing a crown of rays : the radiate crown proves the solar character of the rider. ^^ An altar in front of a tree planted beside a temple of Zeus occurs on coins of Diocsesarea in Cilicia."*^'^ An altar by a tree figures repeatedly on coins of Amasia in Pontus.^^^ A coin of Prusa in Bithynia represents Caracalla, sceptre in hand, sacrificing at an altar, which burns before a tree : above the tree is an eagle. '^^^ And, lastly, a coin of Elaea in Aeolis shows a male figure in military costume, probably Herennius Etruscus, sacrificing at a lighted altar placed beneath a trec-'^O'ia
Between such altars and the perpetual fires or lamps of Greek religion no sharp distinction can be drawn. Plutarch does not mention the altars that flamed before the oak of the Ammonium ; but he does tell us that a perpetual lamp
^* Sil. Ital., 3. 691. See stipj-a, p. 295, n. 216.
^■^ Class Rev,, xvii., 416, fig. 13.
"^^ Brit. Mus. Cat. Gk. Coins, Caria, &c., 55. 66, pL, 10, 17.
^ Class. Rev., xvii., 418, fig. 15.
s"" Brit. Mus. Cat. Gk. Coins, Lydia, p. 159, pi. 17, 4.
^^ lb., pp. Ixxvi., 162 fF., pi. 17, 10, 12, 14.
^^ lb., Lycaonia, &c., p. 72, pi. 12, 14.
- '* lb., Pontus, &c., pp. 8, 10, II, 12.
^ lb., p. 197, pi. 35, 7.
- •"» lb., Troas, &c., p. 132, pi. 26, 7.
