Marble Relief of Antinous as Silvanus

This marble relief (130–138) depicts Antinous, Emperor Hadrian’s beloved, as Silvanus, the Roman god of woods and fields. After Antinous’s tragic death in the Nile, Hadrian deified him, sparking a widespread cult and commemorative artworks. Here, Antinous harvests grapes—a pastoral symbol of Silvanus—while his idealized features reflect the Greek classical style that Hadrian promoted. Restored in the 18th c., the relief preserves the elegant fusion of a Roman deity with Greek aesthetics.