Relief of Silvanus Holding the Entrails of a Sacrificial Victim in the Princeton University Art Museum, August 2009

Relief of Silvanus Holding the Entrails of a Sacrificial Victim
Roman, first half of the 2nd century AD
White marble

# Y1991-21

Silvanus was a forest deity and guardian of shepherds and hunters, as well as a protector of the household. In this fragmentary relief, he is shown wearing a sleeved undergarment, tunic, cloak, and skin boots as he stands before a tree and a rustic altar. In his right hand he holds a pruning hook (falx), his most common attribute. The objects in his left hand are the entrails of a sacrificial animal: windpipe, lungs, heart, and liver.

Text from the Princeton University Art Museum label.