Serapis

Sculpture of Serapis, the Egyptian god of the Underworld. He carries a corn measure (‘modius’) on his head which symbolises the wealth and fertility of the earth. The statue was deliberately buried along with a sculpture depicting Mercury and parts of statues of Mithras in a shallow pit in a 4th-century floor. It was found during excavations of the temple of Mithras in 1954.
It is a very accomplished carving. The face is framed by cascading locks, deeply undercut. The beard and moustache are equally luxurious. The eyes have drilled pupils and well-defined irises. The head is surmounted by a corn-measure or modius on which three olive sprigs are depicted in relief. All the flesh surfaces are highly polished, but the back of the head is rough, doubtless to fit it into a niche within the Mithraeum. The neck terminates in a roughly surfaced tenon, like that of Mithras (no. 20005) and suggests that the head too once formed part of a larger work.