Iconology, the science that examines the figures and representations, of both men and gods.

It assigns characteristics of their own to each of them, which serve to differentiate them from each other. Thus it represents Saturn old with a scythe; Jupiter armed with lightning with an eagle at his side; Neptune with a trident, riding a chariot pulled by sea horses; Pluto with a two-pronged fork, and dragged in a chariot drawn by four black horses; Cupid or Love with arrows, a quiver, a torch, and sometimes blindfolded; Apollo, sometimes with a bow and arrows, and sometimes with a lyre; Mercury with a caduceus in his hand, wearing a winged hat, with a heel as well; March armed with all parts, with a rooster who was devoted to him; Bacchus crowned with ivy, armed with a thyrsus and covered with a tiger skin, with tigers to his chariot, which is followed by the Bacchantes; Hercules wearing a lion’s skin, and holding a club in his hand; Juno is seen on clouds with a peacock at her side; Venus in a chariot drawn by swans, or pigeons; Pallas with a helmet on head, leaning on her shield , which was called auspices , and with an owl who was devoted to her; Diane dressed as a hunter, with bow and arrows in her hand; Ceres with a sheaf and a sickle in her hands. As the Pagans had multiplied their deities to infinity, the Poets and Painters after them have worked to create figures similar to purely chimerical beings, or to give a sort of body to divine attributes, seasons, rivers, provinces, science, the arts, the virtues and vices, passions, diseases, etc. As such, Force is being represented by a woman with the air of warrior supported on a cube; we see a lion at her feet. Prudence is given an image of a twisted serpent, symbol of this virtue; Justice, a sword and a balance; the Fortune with a headband and a wheel; Opportunity with a tuft of hair from head in front her with the rest of the head being bald; all rivers, crowns of reeds and urns; Europe with a closed crown, a scepter and a horse; Asia with censer, etc.