This torso, from a statue of a bearded divinity identified as Asclepius, was discovered near the so-called Tetrastyle Temple presumably dedicated to its cult. Along with the Temple of Hercules and that of the Round Altar, the Tetrastyle Temple formed the The Republican Sacred Area Republican-era sacred precinct, one of the most ancient cult places in Ostia, located outside the Castrum walls along Via della Foce.
Traditional representations of Asclepius show the god seated, wearing a mantle (himation), with his torso and right arm bare, his left hand holding a sceptre. The plentiful hair and head are dressed in the characteristic circinus, a cloth twisted into a round headcover. The statue is an acrolith, its bare skin in marble and the garment in bronze. A piece of exceptional craftsmanship, it is a Hellenistic original derived from a model by Praxiteles, and has been attributed to the Attic workshop of the sculptor Timarchides. It is likely that his workshop produced important cult statues destined for sanctuaries in the city and in Latium, such as the one consecrated to Diana in Nemi or that of the goddess Fortuna in Palestrina.