Unknown Maker, Graeco-Phoenician

Although the man in this relief is wearing traditional Greek garments, the sculpture is of Roman origin. The only comparable extant reliefs come from the ancient Roman province of Phoenicia (modern Lebanon). Here, a man holds a box of incense and is about to place a grain on the censer before him. His cloak (himation) is delicately fringed and elates to the cult of Isis. This man, either a priest or initiate of this mysterious cult, has likely paused in a ritual procession to make incense offerings to the goddess.

Roman religion was inclusive: popular provincial gods were adopted into the Roman pantheon, and foreign deities were associated with Roman gods through a practice called syncretism. Many of these foreign divinities were worshipped through mystery cults, where elaborate initiation rites brought a strong sense of religious community and offered the promise of spiritual renewal in this world and salvation in the next. Isis was an Egyptian mother goddess whose worship and mystery cult were adopted in Rome during the 1st century BCE.