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Lansky Auction 3 5 Jan 2021
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A Roman agate cameo with a bust of a faun. 1st century BC. 24mm. From a private collection; Frank Sternberg 1992 (26) lot 582
"Often voices of the Fauns have been heard plainly, often forms of the gods have been seen, compelling anyone neither feeble-witted nor impious to admit that the gods are present..." (Cicero, De Natura, 2.6.17). Fauns are mythological half human-half goat creatures. Romans often believed they inspired fear in men traveling in lonely or wild places, but were also capable of guiding humans in need. Republican ideology was inextricably linked with the ideal of the farmer; it is in these rural landscapes that we often find the fauns.
"Often voices of the Fauns have been heard plainly, often forms of the gods have been seen, compelling anyone neither feeble-witted nor impious to admit that the gods are present..." (Cicero, De Natura, 2.6.17). Fauns are mythological half human-half goat creatures. Romans often believed they inspired fear in men traveling in lonely or wild places, but were also capable of guiding humans in need. Republican ideology was inextricably linked with the ideal of the farmer; it is in these rural landscapes that we often find the fauns.