PANTHEA, in antiquity, were single statues, com-
posed of the figures, or symbols, of several different di-
vinities together. Father Joubert, who calls them pan-
thea, and who has remarked them sometimes on medals,
says their heads are most commonly adorned with the
symbols or attributes belonging to several gods. An in-
stance of this appears in a medal of Antoninus Pius;
which represents Serapis by the bull's head; the Sun
by the crown of rays; Jupiter Ammon by the ram's
horns; Pluto by the large beard; and Aesculapius by
the serpent twisted in his hand. M. Baudelot, in a dif-
ferentiation on the Lares, observes, that the panthea had
their origin from the superstition of those, who, taking
several gods for the protectors of their houses, united
them all in the same statue, by adorning it with the fe-
veral symbols proper to each of these deities.