Head of a Hero

myminifactory

Roman copy of a familiar type which formerly passed under names such as Massinissa and Miltiades, its best specimens can be found in the Capitoline Museum and in The Louvre. Even the small star on the front of the helmet above the forehead is to be found on the good replicas. The original was doubtlessly from the latter half of the 5th Century BC, and the Attic helmet indicates that it was the statue of a hero, but not of a strategus, the latter awlways wearing Corinthian helmets. As a consequence, contrary of Xanthippus, the fatehr of Pericles, which was placed on the Acropolis by the side of the statue of Anacreon. A closely related type; bearded warrior in Attic helmet, is to be found both in the Pathenon Frieze and in Attic sepulchral reliefs and indicates that the original of the Glyptotek's head was an Attic work of about 430-420 BC.   The nose and part of the lips are missing (formerly restored in plaster). The top of the head, which has worked separately, missing; the neck is damaged. Parts of the surface badly worn. Shaped for a statue.