The Braschi AntinousThis colossal sculpture was found in excavations in 1792-1793 and exhibited in the Palazzo Braschi in Rome until 1844. Antinous was the Emperor Hadrian's (117-138 A.D.) favourite who drowned in the waters of the Nile in 130 A.D. and was immediately made a god by the Emperor. In this statue; which dates from the years immediately following his death; Antinous is shown in a syncretic Dionysus-Osiris pose. On his head is a crown of leaves and ivy berries; and a diadem which at the top would originally have held a cobra (uraeus) or a lotus flower; but which the modern restorers have replaced with a sort of pine cone. The Dionysian attributes of the thyrsus and the mystical chest are also modern additions.inv. 256Vatican Museums (Pio Clementino Museum - Round hall)