Never noticed that before, for
Gela. Learn something everyday.
There is, of course, the famous bronze of Poseidon or
Zeus (we don't know if he originally
had a trident or a
thunderbolt), but instead of overhand, the
arm is extended to the
side, so that whatever the weapon was, it would not block the
face.
The
face is our 'identity,' and I wondered about what it would imply if the
face of a god was blocked. Of course, it would be ugly to depict the trident in front of the god's
face, but I also think it would be an insult to Poseidon, something that Poseidonia and any artisan valuing
his skin would try to avoid doing. I say "try" because in avoiding one mistake he is committing another (IMO).
familiar impossible objects are M.C. Escher waterfalls or stairways. They are something that are depicted in two dimensions, but could not exist in three dimensions, even though in the two dimensional representation, they are represented as being of a three dimensional object. In a
search to describe what is happening in the depiction, I think of it as the long distant ancestor of Escher waterfalls. Now that is not a perfect way to think about it, and how the depiction on the
Gela coin would alter or modify (or even dismiss) that thinking I don't know. But, I don't expect anyone else to necessarily think of the Poseidon or
Gela horseman figures as "impossible objects" unless they find this way of looking of them, fruitful or at least interesting.
There is an interpretation that the
Apollo of Caulonia, and the Poseidon of Poseidonia represent "striking god figurines." in other words,
statues. While I think that is accurate for Caulonia, I do not think that the Poseidon depiction would accurately depict an actual three-dimensional
sculpture, although it might (inaccurately) depict it. For Caulonia, there are coins that portray the
Apollo figure from the back, which is why I think it is accurate that the depiction is of a statue.
JBF