Lower Part of a Marble Statue of Hygieia in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, July 2007

Lower part of a marble statue of Hygieia
Roman, Imperial period, 1st or 2nd century AD
Copy or adaptation of a Greek work of the 3rd or 2nd century BC

Accession # 03.12.11a

Hygieia, the personification of Health, was the daughter of Asklepios, the god of healing. Snakes were closely associated with both figures and were actually kept in many of the sanctuaries where the sick gathered. This Hygieia was shown feeding a gigantic serpent. This statue was once part of the collection of formed in Rome in the early 17th century by the Marchese Vincenzo Giustiniani.

Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.