Hostname: page-component-7b7567c8c-wxvwp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-15T06:10:46.167Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Some Hellenistic Portraits

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2013

Guy Dickins
Get accessRights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

1. Ptolemy Soter, the general of Alexander and founder of the Egyptian dynasty, is as well known to us numismatically as any figure in ancient history. His head appears not only on the coins of all his successors up to the time of the Roman conquest, but also on his own later issues, and therefore we have every reason to suppose that the portraits is a faithful one. On this question of verisimilitude in ancient portraits there are of course great distinctions to be drawn not only between periods but also between personages of ancient history.

Hellenistic portraits are, as a class, faithful renderings of nature, but we have still to make some reservations in comparing them with modern or with Roman likenesses. Idealism never died out of Greek art, and especially in the case of monarchs an official likeness is not always faithful in detail. This applies as much to coins as to statues or busts. Provided the coin shewed an easily recognised type, there was no need to reproduce accidental details. There is a tendency in all coin-portraits to over-emphasise the distinguishing personal features and to omit the unnecessary accidentals. One might take as an instance Alexander Balas of Syria. The length of his nose and the size of his chin were the most marked features of his face, and they are reproduced on all his coins. But the exact contour of his nose was not remarkable, and it appears as aquiline on some coins and retroussè on others.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Hellenic Studies , Volume 34 , November 1914, pp. 293 - 311
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies 1914

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

1 B.M. Cat. Selecuid Kings of Syria, Pl. XVI.,XVI., XVII.; Delbrück, , Antike Porträts, Pl. 61, Nos. 22, 23Google Scholar

2 B.M. Cat. The Ptolemies; Svoronos, Τὰ νομίσματα τοῦ κράτους τῶν Πτολϵμαίων; Imhoof-Blumer, Porträtkopfe auf antiken Münzen, Pl. I, No. 2.

3 Six, Röm. Mitt. 1894, p. 103; Bronzen von Herculanum I., Pl. 69, 70; Comparetti and de Petra, Villa Ercolanense, Pl. IX. 3; Visconti, , Icon. Greca, iii. p. 356Google Scholar; Arndt-Bruckmann, Pl 91, 92; Wace, , J.H.S. xxv. (1905), p. 90Google Scholar; Hekler, Gk. and Roman Portraits, Pl. 69.Google Scholar

4 Rossbach, , Neue Jahrb. 1899, p. 53Google Scholar; Comparetti and de Petra, Villa Ercolanense, Pl. XI.; Visconti, op. cit. iii. p. 279; Wolters, , Röm. Mitt. 1889, p. 32Google Scholar; Arndt-Bruckmann, Pl. 101, 102; Wace, , J.H.S. xxv. (1905), p. 93Google Scholar; Hekler, , Gk. and Rom. Portraits, Pl. 68.Google Scholar

5 Comparetti and de Petra, op. cit. Pl. XXI. 4; Arndt-Bruckmann, Pl. 97, 98; Hekler, op. cit. Pl. 72 A.

6 Visconti, , Monumenti del Museo Torlonia, Pl. XI. 43.Google Scholar

7 Delbrück, , Antike Porträts, Pl. 23Google Scholar; Wolters, , Röm. Mitt. 1889, p. 33, Pl. 3Google Scholar; Visconti, Pl. 64 B, 5, 6.

8 Delbrück, op. cit. Pl. 60, No. 5; Rubensohn, , Hellenistisches Silbergerät, p. 44Google Scholar, Pl. VI. 32.

9 von Gärtringen, Hiller, Thera, i. p. 245, Pl. 21.Google Scholar

10 Comparetti and de Petra, Pl. IX. 4; Six, Röm. Mitt. 1903, p. 217; Rossbach, , Neue Jahrb. 1899, p. 50Google Scholar; Arndt-Bruckmaim, Pl. 93, 94; Wace, , J.H.S. xxv. (1905), p. 91, Pl. VIII. 1Google Scholar; Hekler, op. cit. Pl. 73 A.

11 B.M. Cat. The Ptolemies, Pl. VII.

12 B.M. Cat. The Ptolemies, Pl. XII.

13 B.M. Cat Pl. IX. Svoronos, Νομίσματα τῶν Πτολϵμαίων iii. P. 27.

14 Cf. p. 294.

15 Arndt, , La Glyptothèque Ny-Carlsbery, Pl. 208.Google Scholar

16 B.M. Cat The Ptolemies, Pl. XIV., XV.; Svoronos, op. cit.: Imhoof-Blumer, op. cit. p. 62, Pl. VIII. 9.

17 I am indebted to Professor Schrader for permission to publish this head.

18 Delbrück, op. cit. Pl. 61, Nos. 15, 16; B.M. Cat. Mysia, Pl. XXIII. No. 12.

19 Watzinger, , 63rd Winckelmanns Festprogramme, 1903.Google Scholar

20 Svoronos, op. cit.

21 Gerhard and Panofka, Neapels Ant. Bildw. No. 379; Arndt-Bruckmann, Pl. 109, 110; Biekowski, v., Darstellungen der Gallier, p. 26, Figs. 39, 40Google Scholar; Wace, , J.H.S. xxv. 1905, Pl. X. 2Google Scholar; Hekler, op. cit. Pl. 73 A.

22 Op. cit. Pl. 27, pp. xxxvii–xl.

23 Arndt-Bruckmann, Pl. 399, 400.

24 B.M. Cat. Mysia, Pl. XXIV. No. 5.

25 Bienkowski, v., Darstellungen der Gallier, pp. 24, 25, Figs. 35–38.Google Scholar

26 Macdonald, , J.H.S. 1903, pp. 92 foll.Google Scholar; Wace, A.J.B., J.H.S. 1905, pp. 101–2.Google Scholar

27 Rois de Syrie, pp. lv. foll.

28 Inv. No. 5594; Rossbach, , Neue Jahrb. 1899, p. 55, Pl. I. 2Google Scholar; Furtwängler, , Masterpieces, p. 296Google Scholar; Wace, , J.H.S. xxv. (1905), p. 95.Google Scholar

29 Hauser B.P.W. 1903, p. 137; Schreiber, , Studien z. d. Bildnis Alexanders, p. 272Google Scholar; Wace, , J.H.S. 1905, p. 98.Google Scholar

30 Bernoulli, , Röm. Icon. ii. p. 134.Google Scholar

31 A. von Sallet, Die Nachfolger Alexanders des Grossen in Baktrien und Indien. P. Gardner, B.M. Catalogue, The Greek Kings of Bactria and India. Imhoof-Blumer, Portratköpfe, Pl. VI., No. 29.

32 Arndt-Bruckmann, Nos. 103, 104.

33 Inv. No. 6239; Arndt-Bruckmann, Pl. 128, 130; Michaelis, Jahrbuch, 1890, p. 157; Bernoulli, Griech. Icon. i. pp. 159. 180, Pl. XVIII.; Hekler, op. cit. Pl. 15.

34 Hekler, op. cit. Pl. 17.

35 Das Bildnis von Aristoteles; Hekler, op. cit. Pl. 87.

36 Arndt-Bruckmann, Pl. 671, 672, Hekler, op. cit. Pl. 94 B.

37 Cf. Studniczka, op. cit. p. 34.