TheParabiago plate, also known as theParabiago patera,[a] is anancient Roman circular silver plate depicting mythological figures. It was found in anancient Roman cemetery atParabiago, nearMilan, in 1907,[1] and is now in theArchaeological Museum of Milan. The plate depictsCybele with her consortAttis in a "vast cosmic setting"[2] amid "sun, moon, earth and sea, time and the seasons."[3] At the time of its discovery, it was thought to have been used as a lid for a funeraryamphora.[4]
The plate is difficult to date. Earlier scholars tended to date it to the 2nd century CE, because of its classicizing style, but stylistic characteristics also permit a later date. Technical analyses, however, support a provenance in the 4th–5th centuries, even though it bears little stylistic resemblance to other silver pieces from that period.[1]
^abcRuth E. Leader-Newby(2004)Silver and Society in Late Antiquity: Functions and Meanings of Silver Plate in the Fourth to Seventh Centuries,Ashgate,p 146
^Giulia Sfameni Gasparro(1985)Soteriology and Mystic Aspects in the Cult of Cybele and Attis,Brill,p 99
^John Ferguson(1970, 1985)The Religions of the Roman Empire,Cornell University Press,p 26
^Arthur Bernard Cook (1940) edition, (2010) reprinting,Zeus,Cambridge University Press,vol 3, plt 2, pp 1127–1128
^Danuta Shanzer(1986)A Philosophical and Literary Commentary on Martianus Capella's De Nuptiis Philologiae et Mercuii,Book 1,University of California Press,pp 159–160
^Jaime Alvar Ezquerra (2008)Romanising Oriental Gods: Myth, Salvation, and Ethics in the Cults of Cybele, Brill,p 140
