Ancient votive hand with inscription

Ancient votive hand with an inscription on the inside of the wrist: “Arabiades and his brother Germanus supplicant, dedicate”. According to the researchers, the men sacrificed the object to Jupiter Dolichenus in gratitude for their care. The Syrian deity spread in the west of the Roman Empire in the 2nd-3rd century CE and was popular, for example, in the Roman army.

Such objects usually had a hole at the bottom, into which a pole could be inserted and carried during ritual processions. The hand had a symbolic and protective function.