3rd century AD. A group of three lead votive trapezoidal and round plaques showing scenes associated with the Danubian cult: on two plaques the god Sol and the goddess Luna are depicted in profile on the right and the left side of the upper part of the section, while on the best preserved plaque their busts are facing, the sun (Helios) crowned by the star diadem, the moon (Selene) by the half moon; at the centre of all plaques, facing Helen of Sparta, the divine daughter of Leda and Zeus, welcoming her divine brothers, the twins Castor and Pollux, both personifying the Danubian rider on horseback; on all plaques both the riders advancing, their cloaks flying back, and on the round plaque they are followed by their loyal hunting dogs; on the lower part of the plaques, foliage and animal symbols representing the divine power and the offerings to the gods on the fields, with scene of sacrifice and tripods; the eagle of Zeus at the top of one plaques, a fish at the top of another one; architectural elements on the background of the trapezoidal plaques. See Beutler F., Farka C., Gugl C., Humer F., Kremer, G. and Pollhammer E.(ed.), Der Adler Roms, Carnuntum und die Armee der Caesaren, Bad Voslau, 2017, cat 67, for similar plaque in bronze.283 grams total, 81-89mm (3 1/4 - 3 1/2"). Property of an East Anglian collector; formerly acquired on the European art market in the 1990s. The plaques contain a complex iconography of divine figures and symbols, probably to be associated with Thracian or Dacian beliefs of the Lower Danube region, but also with the Greek myth of the divine twins Castor and Pollux (the Dioskuroi), an important element of the Roman religion since the origins, now mixed with the cult of the Danubian rider. Presiding over the whole scene is usually the Sol Invictus (the unconquered sun-god) and his sister the Moon (Selene"). His cult originated in the Near East and gained increasing influence under imperial patronage during the third century AD. The state worship of Sol (Greek Helios) was slowly substituted by Constantine's favour towards Christianity since AD 312. [3]