Marble statuette of Bacchus

The marble statuette shows Bacchus in typical pose, rather languidly holding an empty cantharus (wine-cup) in his right hand and leaning against a tree-trunk, which further supports a fruiting vine. The god's panther is at his feet, looking up at him. Some elements of the style of this sculpture suggest that it is of late-Roman date. The worship of Bacchus, like other cults which promised personal salvation, was very popular in the late Roman world, and much of its iconography was taken over and adapted in early Christian art.