The Dutch Tiphys

...let it be allowed to take "parasia" for "figurehead," original: parasemo if the passage is not free of error. And that Liburnian ship A fast, light type of galley used by the Romans. had a Pegasus as its figurehead original Greek: παράσημον (parasēmon).

But the Guardian Spirit original: Tutela was placed on the stern. This differed from the figurehead in two ways: first, because the figurehead’s place was always on the prow, while the Guardian’s was on the stern; and second, because the Guardian was always a God or Goddess. The figurehead original Greek: παράσημον (parasēmon) could be a God, or a Hero, or an animal, or something else. Finally, a ship took its name from the figurehead, not from its Guardian Spirit. Ovid writes:

I have a ship—and I pray it remains safe—under the protection of golden-haired Minerva,
and it takes its name from a painted Helmet. Ovid, Tristia 1.10.1-2. Here, the goddess Minerva protects the ship from the stern, but the ship is actually named "The Helmet" after the image on its prow.

To be sure, "The Helmet" was the figurehead original Greek: τὸ παράσημον (to parasēmon), and from it the ship was called The Helmet. Minerva, however, who was the Guardian, was stationed on the stern or in the stern-ornament original: Aplustri, the decorative, fan-like carving at the rear of an ancient ship.. In the first book of the Iliad: "For he hastens to lop off the high stern-ornaments of the ships." Homer, Iliad 9.241. Original Greek: σεῦται γὰρ νηῶν ἀποκόψειν ἄκρα κόρυμβα. A commentary original: Scholion notes: "Since upon the highest points of the sterns were statues and images of the gods." Original Greek: ἐπειδὴ ἐπὶ τῶν ἀκροτολίων ἦσαν ἀγάλματα καὶ εἰκόνες τῶν θεῶν. Hesychius A 5th-century Greek grammarian and lexicographer. says: Pataikoi. Gods of the Phoenicians, whom they set up on the sterns of their ships. Original Greek: Πάταικοι. Θεοὶ, Φοίνικες οὓς ἱστᾶσι κατὰ τὰς πρύμνας τῶν νεῶν. Persius writes:

Great Gods from the stern ——— Persius, Satires 6.30.

An old glossary original: Glossa vetus states: "He speaks of the Guardian Spirit of the ships, which they have or paint on the sterns." Plutarch writes: "...inquiring the name of both the ship-owner and the pilot, and the figurehead of the ship." Original Greek: πυνθανόμενος τοῦ τε ναυκλήρου τὄνομα & τοῦ κῠβερνήτου, & τῆς νεὼς τὸ παράσημον. For the ship took its name from the figurehead original Greek: παρασήμου, just as that ship in which the Apostle Paul sailed was called The Twin Sons of Zeus. Acts 28:11. The original Latin text uses Castores, referring to Castor and Pollux. Indeed, I know that many have written concerning the Guardian Spirits of ships. But I see that they have not well...