The Cult of Jupiter Dolichenus in Lower Moesia and Thrace

In Lower Moesia they predominate in the regionof the Lower Danubian limes and the Black Sea coast, while in Thrace
theirprovenance is the territory around the two great city centres of Augusta Trajana(Stara Zagora) and Philippopolis
(Plovdiv), and also the military camp in Kabyle.
Although military men were those who spread thecult all over the Empire, here the role of the second element responsible for
propagating stands out particularly clearly, i. e. the civilian part of the populationwhich was most often connected with trade and
the different crafts and was

Another important inscription (No 21) also came from the surroundings ofAugusta Trajana; it
mentions that one of the priests was a buleuta of themunicipal council of Porolissos in Dacia and
a merchant, and the second priestwas also of Syrian origin. The two restored the temple which
was if not inAugusta Trajana at least somewhere quite near. This shrine probably enjoyed
quite great popularity, as persons of high social rank from other provinces visitedit and took part
in restoring it.

The meaning of these hands is interpreted as depicting the hand of thedeity, blessing and helping,
although they are not in the gesture of the benediction latina. Their gesture is the so-called
dextra elata, i.e. the hand with the palm forwards which has been known for a long time as an
old Semitic symbol andis met with as early as on the cylindrical Babylonian seals of the age of
Hammurabi. ( p.1372 )

De la 1375.