Column (herm)

In antiquity, a herm was a quadrangular column crowned with a human face. A double herm combines two faces. In Roman times it was fashionable to link opposites in this way. This double herm displays two followers of Bacchus, the god of wine: one is a cheerful young satyr, while the other is a bald old silenus. In this way, young and old are forged into a unified whole.