This is Hermes, messenger of the Greek gods, patron of travelers, and guide of dead souls to the underworld. Characteristically, he wears a short, traveling cloak, and carries a herald’s staff crowned with two entwined snakes. You’ll also notice that he holds his staff in a very mannered, unrealistic, way. Only just touching it, his gesture is almost lyrical! Even his left hand barely rests against his hip.

His hairstyle is extraordinarily elaborate, with long spiral tresses over his shoulder, snail-like curls above his forehead, and long, wavy strands looped up in the delicate fillet that he wears around his head. Notice his cloak, especially the stiff, triangular folds that converge down the front of him. This is not a naturalistic depiction of drapery! Rather, snail-like curls, spiral tresses, stiff drapery folds, and even the god’s rigid posture, are reminiscent of Greek Archaic sculpture from the sixth century B.C.

The artist who carved this relief—over 500 years later—incorporated features of Archaic Greek art in a new and very decorative composition. This kind of style is known as archaistic.

Why would an artist in the first century A.D. carve a relief this way? Archaic forms were thought to possess a special religious aura, and, perhaps he wanted to make the figure of Hermes look ancient and more sacred. Then again, the mannered, decorative qualities of archaistic art reflected an aesthetic fashion popular in Rome at this time. Many wealthy Roman citizens decorated their villas with art that flaunted their affluence, and nouveau riche taste. Look around you and you’ll see other archaistic works of art that served a similar purpose.