Poet and Muse diptych of a wax tablet; the inscription has not survived, so there can be no way to identify the writer for whom it was made. In the literature that has accumulated about this diptych, various prominent figures have been offered as candidates: Ausonius, Boethius, and Claudian, and even earlier figures, like Ennius and Seneca, with whom the donor wished to be associated The muse represented is Erato, muse of lyric poetry, with her usual attribute, the cithara, which she rests upon an ornately fluted column. The poet on the facing panel is seated, roused from his contemplation by the inspiring presence
Goddess I the Classic Period: Goddess I can be depicted with the maize child in a carrying-strap on her back; in amorous embrace with an aged and lecherous old man, probably God N; as part of the 'harem' of God L (Princeton vase); and in encounters, sometimes markedly erotic, with animals such as armadillo, deer, spider monkey, and stinging insects. The combinations with animals are not well understood. They have been interpreted astronomically (on the assumption that goddess I is identical with the moon goddess), but could in principle also be viewed as metaphorical references to marriage; as mythological scenes; or as