Marble pillar with snake and wreath
This pillar may be either votive or sepulchral. The snake is both an attribute of the healing god Asklepios, suggesting this object may have been a thank offering on behalf of one cured of an illness, and a potent symbol of the underworld, alluding perhaps to a funereal function. The wreath, meanwhile, evokes victory in the broadest sense, as well as the realm of Dionysos, whose mythological rebirth makes his iconography particularly appropriate in a tomb context.
Artwork Details
- Title: Marble pillar with snake and wreath
- Period: Imperial
- Date: 1st–2nd century CE
- Culture: Roman
- Medium: Marble, Pentelic ?
- Dimensions: h. 14 5/8 in (37.2 cm)
- Classification: Stone Sculpture
- Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1912
- Object Number: 12.229.2
- Curatorial Department: Greek and Roman Art
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1st–2nd century CE
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212–217 CE
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ca. 14–37 CE
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ca. 138–192 CE
Roman
1st–2nd century CE
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