CIRCA 2ND CENTURY A.D.

The syncretistic god Hermanubis, a combination of the Egyptian god Anubis with the Greek Hermes, is first attested from an inscription from the Serapeum on Delos from the 2nd century B.C. The assimilation of Anubis with Hermes was due to their similar mythological functions of guiding the dead to the Underworld. As with other Egyptian gods such as Isis and Serapis, Hermanubis came to be worshipped in Rome and elsewhere in Italy, especially during the Imperial period. According to A. Roullet (The Egyptian and Egyptianizing Monuments of Imperial Rome, pp. 39-40), the Emperor Marcus Aurelius commissioned a small shrine to Hermes in Rome, which was dedicated to the jackal-headed form of the god. Coins from the period depict him standing within a shrine with a semi-circular pediment, similar in form to the Egyptian temple on the mosaic from Palestrina.

Depictions of the jackal-headed god during the Roman period are known from large-scale marble statues as well as small bronze or terracotta votives. He is also found on gems, mosaics and wall-paintings (see J. Leclant, “Anubis,” LIMC, vol. 1). He is usually shown, as here, wearing winged sandals, a short tunic belted with a sash and a cloak over the shoulders pinned by a circular brooch. His attributes include the caduceus, and sometimes a palm branch and a situla. Related marble statues include one from Cumae, now in Naples (no. V.80 in E.A. Arslan, et al., Iside, Il Mito, Il Mistero, la Magia), and one from Anzio, now in the Vatican (no. 213 in J.-Cl. Grenier, Anubis Alexandrin et romain); see also the figure in relief on one side of a rectangular altar dedicated to Isis, found at her temple in the Campus Martius in Rome, now in the Capitoline Museum (no. V.2 in Arslan, op. cit.).