The Head of the Goddess Hygieia

This head reproduces, at a smaller scale, a statuary type known through many Roman replicas as a full figure, heavily draped and supporting a large snake to which she offers a phiale (shallow libation vessel). Such attributes characterize Hygieia, goddess of health and associate of the healing deity Asklepios (Roman Aesculapius). Both were divinities greatly respected by Greeks and Romans alike-hence their many representations on votive reliefs and in sculpture in the round. A date of around 350 BC (or even later) for the prototype is generally accepted, but no definite attribution to a master or a location can be made.