DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.52594#0324
Greek Portraiture.
suggests that the head was on a herm. Acquired in 1924 from the Paus
collection and, according to repute, found near Rome.
As the considerable use of the drill shows, this is a Roman
copy of the 2nd cent. A. D., but the original must have
belonged to the Hellenistic period, presumably 200-100 B. C.,
for it bears a close relationship to the famous heads of the
blind Homer (cf. No. 410 b). Still more closely related is a
badly damaged portrait of a poet in Athens (Hekler, Oest.
Jahresh. XVIII 1915 p. 61 seqq. and figs. 31-32). A remarkable
feature of the Glyptotek head is the bandeau, knotted at the
back, in every way similar to the diadem of the kings of the
time. Homer heads with a similar royal bandeau are some-
times seen on coins. Thus it must be one of Hellas’ great
poets whom this character portrait represents, Homer or
Hesiod or one of the famous lyric writers. Schefold prefers
to call it Callimachus, the most famous of the Alexandrian
poets.
2. Tillseg til Billedtavler pl. VIII. Fr. Poulsen, Acta Arch. I 1930 p. 31
seqq. figs. 1 a-c and pl. III. Schefold pp. 128,2 and 211. V. H. Poulsen, Acta
Arch. XIII 1942 p. 154. Buschor: Das hellenistische Bildnis p. 22. Adriani,
Annuario della Scuola Arch, di Atene XXIV-XXVI, 1946-48, p. 158.
451. (I. N. 573). Hellenistic ruler. Head. M.
It. 0.24. This smalt head is badly weathered. The nose and hair
abraded. The back of the head was put on separately and is now
missing.
The treatment of the marble and the style show that this
head, found in Crete, is an Egyptian-Alexandrian work of
the 3rd cent. B. C., while the bandeau and the two small
bull horns make it certain that it is the portrait of a ruler.
The head recalls coin images of Ptolemaius HI Euergetes of
Egypt (cf. Imhoff-Blumer: Portratkopfe auf Miinzen hellen.
und hellenist. Volker pl. VIII 4) and definite portraits of that
ruler in Alexandria and Cyrene (Guidi, Africa Italiana HI
1930 p. 95 seqq., figs. 1-3).
Billedtavler pl. XXXIII. Λ. B. 356. Fr. Poulsen in Collections II 1938 p. 21
and fig. 21; Ibid, other portraits of Ptolemaius III are discussed, including
the large head in the Glyptotek’s Egyptian Department, A. 21. Arndt-Amelung
4637-38 (Fr. Poulsen). Breitenstein in Festskrift til Fr. Poulsen p. 92 (cf. figs.
5-6). On the portraits of this ruler Pfuhl Arch. Jahrb. XLV 1930 p. 32 seqq.,
who is of another opinion. Buschor: Das hellenistische Bildnis p. 15.
320
suggests that the head was on a herm. Acquired in 1924 from the Paus
collection and, according to repute, found near Rome.
As the considerable use of the drill shows, this is a Roman
copy of the 2nd cent. A. D., but the original must have
belonged to the Hellenistic period, presumably 200-100 B. C.,
for it bears a close relationship to the famous heads of the
blind Homer (cf. No. 410 b). Still more closely related is a
badly damaged portrait of a poet in Athens (Hekler, Oest.
Jahresh. XVIII 1915 p. 61 seqq. and figs. 31-32). A remarkable
feature of the Glyptotek head is the bandeau, knotted at the
back, in every way similar to the diadem of the kings of the
time. Homer heads with a similar royal bandeau are some-
times seen on coins. Thus it must be one of Hellas’ great
poets whom this character portrait represents, Homer or
Hesiod or one of the famous lyric writers. Schefold prefers
to call it Callimachus, the most famous of the Alexandrian
poets.
2. Tillseg til Billedtavler pl. VIII. Fr. Poulsen, Acta Arch. I 1930 p. 31
seqq. figs. 1 a-c and pl. III. Schefold pp. 128,2 and 211. V. H. Poulsen, Acta
Arch. XIII 1942 p. 154. Buschor: Das hellenistische Bildnis p. 22. Adriani,
Annuario della Scuola Arch, di Atene XXIV-XXVI, 1946-48, p. 158.
451. (I. N. 573). Hellenistic ruler. Head. M.
It. 0.24. This smalt head is badly weathered. The nose and hair
abraded. The back of the head was put on separately and is now
missing.
The treatment of the marble and the style show that this
head, found in Crete, is an Egyptian-Alexandrian work of
the 3rd cent. B. C., while the bandeau and the two small
bull horns make it certain that it is the portrait of a ruler.
The head recalls coin images of Ptolemaius HI Euergetes of
Egypt (cf. Imhoff-Blumer: Portratkopfe auf Miinzen hellen.
und hellenist. Volker pl. VIII 4) and definite portraits of that
ruler in Alexandria and Cyrene (Guidi, Africa Italiana HI
1930 p. 95 seqq., figs. 1-3).
Billedtavler pl. XXXIII. Λ. B. 356. Fr. Poulsen in Collections II 1938 p. 21
and fig. 21; Ibid, other portraits of Ptolemaius III are discussed, including
the large head in the Glyptotek’s Egyptian Department, A. 21. Arndt-Amelung
4637-38 (Fr. Poulsen). Breitenstein in Festskrift til Fr. Poulsen p. 92 (cf. figs.
5-6). On the portraits of this ruler Pfuhl Arch. Jahrb. XLV 1930 p. 32 seqq.,
who is of another opinion. Buschor: Das hellenistische Bildnis p. 15.
320