Statue of Aesculapius

A statue larger than life. The god of Epidaurus and giver of health, is represented under his usual attributes in this statue, which for majesty of expression and artistic excellence is probably unequalled. The knotty and distorted staff around which the domestic serpent is entwined, is of a size, never before attempted. The graceful folds of his ample and magnificent pallium are rendered with unsurpassable skill. Besides the serpent entwined around the staff on which his left arm is resting, he has at his feet the cortina or covering of the delphic tripod, alike an emblem of Apollo his father, and of his own especial oracles and divinations. Hence there seems no doubt that this statue of the god, whose ideal type may be ascribed to the school of Phidias, was once a special object of worship.

Inv. nr. 94. H. 2.20. Excavated in 1864.