DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.15100#0017
2
PLATE II.
HEAD OF JUPITER SERAP1S.
A head of Jupiter Serapis of fine workmanship. The hair is dis-
posed in ample falling curls which descend to the shoulders; the
locks in front fall over the forehead as is usual in portraits of
this divinity. The modius 1 upon the head is decorated with up-
right branches of olive2 in low relief. The beard is thick and
bushy but not very long. The bust is clothed in a tunic, and a
portion of the peplus hangs over the shoulders; but all this, as
well as the lower part of the neck, is modern.
The hair upon portraits of Serapis is disposed in a very different
way from that of Jupiter. In order to render the countenance of the
former more sombre and severe he is always represented, as in the
present instance, with the hair falling over the forehead.3 Serapis
was first worshipped under this name by the Egyptians, who had
a temple dedicated to him at Alexandria, and another more ancient
at Memphis.4 It does not appear that the name Serapis was
generally known to the Greeks, till the reign of Alexander the
Great,5 by whom it was probably introduced from Egypt. The
1 Perhaps rather, from its form, the calathus, which was placed on the head of Se-
rapis. Calathum capiti ejus mfigunt. Macrob. Saturn, lib. i. 20.
2 Cf. Carlo Fea,in a note to Winckelmann, Histoire de l'Art chez les Anciens, torn. 1.
p. 384. Sur une belle tete de marbre blanc, que je crois etre celle de Pluton, qu'on
voit dans le monastere de Saint Ambroise, on trouve sur le modius, qui couvre sa tete,
une plante d'olivier avec quelques epis de froment; singularite qui la rend precieuse.
3 Winckelmann, Histoire de l'Art, torn. i. p. 386. 4 Pausan. i. c. 18, 4.
s See Jablonski, Pantheon iEgypt. lib. ii. c. 5, and the passages he there cites from
Plutarch, Arrian, and Diogenes Laertius.
PLATE II.
HEAD OF JUPITER SERAP1S.
A head of Jupiter Serapis of fine workmanship. The hair is dis-
posed in ample falling curls which descend to the shoulders; the
locks in front fall over the forehead as is usual in portraits of
this divinity. The modius 1 upon the head is decorated with up-
right branches of olive2 in low relief. The beard is thick and
bushy but not very long. The bust is clothed in a tunic, and a
portion of the peplus hangs over the shoulders; but all this, as
well as the lower part of the neck, is modern.
The hair upon portraits of Serapis is disposed in a very different
way from that of Jupiter. In order to render the countenance of the
former more sombre and severe he is always represented, as in the
present instance, with the hair falling over the forehead.3 Serapis
was first worshipped under this name by the Egyptians, who had
a temple dedicated to him at Alexandria, and another more ancient
at Memphis.4 It does not appear that the name Serapis was
generally known to the Greeks, till the reign of Alexander the
Great,5 by whom it was probably introduced from Egypt. The
1 Perhaps rather, from its form, the calathus, which was placed on the head of Se-
rapis. Calathum capiti ejus mfigunt. Macrob. Saturn, lib. i. 20.
2 Cf. Carlo Fea,in a note to Winckelmann, Histoire de l'Art chez les Anciens, torn. 1.
p. 384. Sur une belle tete de marbre blanc, que je crois etre celle de Pluton, qu'on
voit dans le monastere de Saint Ambroise, on trouve sur le modius, qui couvre sa tete,
une plante d'olivier avec quelques epis de froment; singularite qui la rend precieuse.
3 Winckelmann, Histoire de l'Art, torn. i. p. 386. 4 Pausan. i. c. 18, 4.
s See Jablonski, Pantheon iEgypt. lib. ii. c. 5, and the passages he there cites from
Plutarch, Arrian, and Diogenes Laertius.