Deity with Serpent Coils

This gilded bronze figure (mid-4th c. AD) depicts a veiled deity enshrouded by a snake, emblem of eternity and transformation. Buried and unearthed annually in Janiculum rites, which honored Janus, the god of beginnings and transitions, the statue embodied cyclical death and rebirth, symbolizing nature’s renewal and the soul’s resurrection in mystery cult worship.