Bronze or silver statuettes were popular across the Roman Empire, usually modelled in the shape of gods, goddesses and animals. Such statuettes could have been part of private households or placed in temples as votive offerings.
The Messenger God Mercury (Hermes in Greek mythology) played a variety of roles within Roman society. In the Roman world, his ability of safe transport, as a messenger god, connected him to merchants and trading, as well as acting as a guide for the souls of the dead to the underworld. According to the Homeric hymns, the caduceus, a staff intertwined with snakes was believed to have been a gift to Hermes from the God Apollo, in return for the gift of a lyre which Hermes had fashioned for Apollo. Of the Roman gods, Mercury seems to have been one of the most popular, with Mercurian iconography representing a significant proportion of the figurative decoration found in material and visual culture in Pompeii.
