Bronze Votive Hand in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, October 2009

Votive hand for Sabazios cult

Roman, Imperial Period, 2nd–4th century A.D.

Dimensions: Height x width x depth: 14.5 x 4.4 x 4 cm (5 11/16 x 1 3/4 x 1 9/16 in.)

Medium or Technique: Bronze

Classification: Sculpture

Catalogue Raisonné: Highlights: Classical Art (MFA), p. 044.

Accession Number: 2006.1893

Hollow-cast in the form of a human wrist and right hand with long, thin fingers, thumb, index- and middle-fingers extended, ring-finger and pinky bent into the palm. A snake is coiled around the wrist and stretches across the back of the hand, its head the projecting above the knuckle of the ring-finger; also on the back of the hand are a frog and a lizard, as well as several inanimate objects: below the snake, a braided whip; above the snake, two flutes (one straight, one curved) at left, and a pair of cymbals at right. On the side of the hand, just below the thumb, a turtle; on the tip of thumb, a pinecone. On the front side of the wrist, right of center, an offering table. At the base of palm, a disc-shaped object, probably a loaf of bread; in the center of the palm, an egg-shaped object, perhaps another pinecone. Extending between the tips of the index- and middle- fingers, an eagle, perched on a stylized thunderbolt. Sabazios Hand is part of the worship of a Thracian/Anatolian deity connected with Jupiter; hands like these stood in sanctuaries attached to poles and were carried in processions.

Text from: www.mfa.org/collections/object/votive-hand-for-sabazios-c...