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D: ‘Nilus ? Seduto sopra roccie a s. guarda a d.; l’himation in giro al corpo, la d. alla testa, la s. posta ale roccie dietro, scala con trenta ? Gradini; piu distante base ornata di ghirlanda con sopra sparviero a s.; davanti, sopra tripodo, anfora a due manici, accanto a questa, serpente? Eretto.’ However this seems very uncertain and the identity of the figure and the scene portrayed is not clear. It does seem definitely to have a naked torso, and so be male; Christiansen, RCA p. 160, calls it ‘Nilus seated on rocks’, and also cited a specimen in Copenhagen (Thorvaldsen), and referred to M 6.627 and 634; Emmett 554 follows Dattari. The ladder represents a flight of steps leading down to the river, i.e. the scene is a version of Nilus with a Nilometer. The CNG cataloguer identifies the god as Hapi, and plausibly interprets the scene as a depiction of the successful flooding of the river Nile.
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