Marble bench with relief depicting a bacchantic processional train with satyrs and maenads. A Bacchante is a participant in a so-called bacchanal, a kind of wild drinking party. In the carriage to the left is a naked Bacchus with a so-called thyrsus wand, a staff clad in ivy and vines and with a pine cone at the top, associated with the god Dionysos/Bacchus and his companions the satyrs and maenads; a symbol of well-being, fertility, lust and pleasure in a cart pulled by bucks. To the right, a calf is seen getting ready for sacrifice, while Bacchii’s companions play music and rhythms. Also note the panther below the chariot, one of the attributes of Bacchus/Dionysus.

The scene is flanked by two faunas. One plays an aulos, an antique woodwind instrument, often of the oboe type, and the other blows a pan flute. A faun is a mythological creature half human and half goat that appears in Greek and Roman mythology. These mythological creatures borrowed their appearance from the satyrs, who in turn borrowed their appearance from the god Pan of the Greek world of gods. They were symbols of peace and fertility, and their chief Silenus was a minor deity in Greek mythology.

The bench rests on two roll volumes that have been decorated with large acanthus leaves. In ancient Roman and ancient Greek architecture, acanthus ornamentation occurs extensively in the capitals of the Corinthian and compound columns, and is applied to friezes, toothpicks, and other decorated areas. Acanthus symbolized prosperity and fertility, and survived into early Christian iconography.