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.