Roman Imperial Plaque with Helen of Sparta

3rd century AD. A discoid votive lead plaque with billetted border and pelletted ring, central scene of a facing worshipper (Helen of Sparta) and tripod altar, personification of the sun with radiating beams to the right, stylised moon on the left, snakes over their heads, vegetation and punched annular motifs in the field, two cavalrymen (Castor and Pollux) flanking the central figure from left and right. See Gorny & Mosch (Giessener Muenzhandlung), 16th October 2001, lot 3454, for similar; see Strokova, L., Zubar V., and Treister M. Y., Two Lead Plaques with a Depiction of a Danubian Horseman from the Collection of the National Museum of the History of the Ukraine in Ancient Civilizations from Scythia to Siberia, 10,1-2, 2004, pp.67-76, for discussion and parallels. 107 grams, 69mm (2 1/2"). Property of a European collector; previously acquired on the UK art market prior to 1980. In the upper portion of the plaque we can see the personification of the moon (left) and the sun (right"). Two snakes over them usually connected to the concept of immortality. The woman in the middle is usually considered to be Helen surrounded by the Dioscuri (i.e. Castor and Pollux"). Both the Dioscuri are represented as the Danubian horseman. Lying figures are below the Dioscuri; under Helen's feet you can clearly see a tripod. The Thracian (Danubian) pantheon was very complex and historical information are mainly taken from Graeco-Roman sources (which of course translate those gods into the Graeco-Roman pantheon) and archaeological evidence. The Danubian horseman is interpreted by some modern scholars as Apollo, Zamolxis, the ancestors' divinity and so on; the two horsemen like the brothers of Helen, the Dioscuri. The figure is said to be Helen or for others, Bendis, the Thracian goddess usually holding a bow and spears. In a period of strong religious syncretism the representation of (the same) divinity was influenced by local cults.
Condition Report: Fine condition.