River God

This reclining marble figure (2nd–3rd cc.) of a river god adorned the Santuario di Attis. Crowned with reeds and resting on a water urn, he symbolized fertility and renewal—key themes in the cult of Attis, a youthful vegetation god whose death and rebirth embodied nature’s cycles. The sanctuary blended Eastern mystery rites with Roman visual language, evoking cosmic regeneration.