[Soothing, Egyptian-tinged background music]
Jeffrey Spier: I especially like this beautifully carved marble head of the Egyptian god Serapis.
Female Narrator: Jeffrey Spier, senior curator of Antiquities at the Getty Museum and the lead curator of this exhibition.
Jeffrey Spier: He is easily identified as Serapis, He’s a fertility god, created and promoted under the Ptolemies, but very popular under the Romans too. He has long wavy hair, a beard divided in the middle,four locks of hair over his forehead, which are slightly broken in this example. He wears a modius on his head, which is a measuring implement for grain, which is a symbol of Egypt.
Female Narrator: Serapis was also associated with the goddess Isis, and their cult became the primary Egyptian cult outside of Egypt.
Jeffrey Spier: I think what's surprising about this piece is where it was found. This was found in London, in England the farthest province of the Roman Empire, in a Temple dedicated to Mithras, the Persian God who is also widely worshipped at this time.
[Music fades]
