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—Plotinus. Ennead IV.3.18

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François de Nomé - The Underworld; 1622.

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“Pan”, Franz von Stuck (1908)

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Temple of Mars Silvanus at  Roman Open-Air Museum Hechingen-Stein, Germany

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ΓΑΣ·ΥΙΟΣ·ΕΙΜΙ·ΚΑΙ·ΟΥΡΑΝΟΥ·ΑΣΤΕΡΟΕΝΤΟΣ·ΑΥΤΑΡ·ΕΜΟΙ·ΓΕΝΟΣ·ΟΥΡΑΝΙΟΝ

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Probable depiction from an ivory diptych of Quintus Aurelius Symmachus, 4th century Western Roman statesman and advocate for traditional religious customs, arriving in heaven following his apotheosis. The genii who bear him skyward, as well as Sol and zodiacal signs, attest to Symmachus' religious convictions.

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Etruscan temples (Ancient Italy)

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Bas-relief of the tauroctony of the Mithraic mysteries. Found in 1895 at the Sarrebourg mithraeum (Pons Saravi, Gallia Belgica). Now on display at La Cour d'Or museum in Metz.

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“It seems to me that the sages of old who wanted to attract to themselves the presence of the gods, and built temples and statues to that end, looking to the nature of the universe, had in mind that the nature of the soul is a thing that is in general easy to attract, but the easiest way of all to receive it would be if one were to craft something sympathetic which was able to receive some share of it. And that is sympathetic which is in any way imitative of it, like a mirror able to capture some image of it.”

—Plotinus, Ennead IV.3.11.

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Chalcedony figurine of Herakles, Roman, 2nd century AD

from The Princeton University Museum of Art

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Virgil reading The Aeneid before Augustus, Livia and Octavia

by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres (1864)

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Apollo

Albertina • Vienna, Austria

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The triumph of Venus, worshipped by six legendary lovers (Achilles, Tristan, Lancelot, Samson, Paris and Troilus) Master of the Taking of Tarento (Florence)/ Master of Charles de Duras (c. 14th century A. D.)