Kriophoros

[1]The myth may be providing an etiological explanation of a cult practice, carried out to avert miasma, the ritual pollution that had brought disease, a propitiatory act whose ancient origins had become lost but had ossified in this iconic motif.

In Messenia, at the sacred grove of Karnasus, Pausanias noted that Apollon Karneios and Hermes Kriophoros had a joint cult,[2] the ram-bearers (kriophoroi) joining in male initiation rites.

The nearly lifesize marble Moscophoros ("The Calf Bearer") of c. 570 BCE, found on the Athenian Acropolis in 1864 is inscribed "Rhombos", apparently the donor, who commemorated his sacrifice in this manner.

The Good Shepherd is a common motif from the Catacombs of Rome (Gardner, 10, fig 54) and in sarcophagus reliefs, where Christian and pagan symbolism are often combined, making secure identifications difficult.

A Kriophoros shepherd, fleeing with his flock from the attack of a wolf, was interpreted as a purely pastoral figure in the 4th-5th century floor mosaics of a colonnade in Great Palace at Constantinople.