Head of Dionysus

myminifactory

The head has been smashed into several pieces and put together again. The lower part of the neck is modern, marble. Otherwise intact, though part of the hair on the right side is missing. Under the tight brow-band (mitra) which disappears under the curly hair depend the bunches of grapes which signify the god as Dionysus. The expression of the face corresponds: the enormously broad nose, the great distance between the eyes, the brows rising towards the temples, the open mouth with the thick lips are all a splendid characterization of the God of Nature, the Bull God Dionysus. There are power and strength in this head; even the famous “Siardanapalus head” (Br. Br. 381) seems tame in comparison. It is a good Roman work of the 2nd cent. A. D., with reminiscences of 5th cent. Greek art. A related but much inferior head of Dionysus is to be found in a private collection at Munich (Arndt-Amelung 1045). The stylization of the beard may be compared with a group of Roman Zeus heads (Rom. Mitt. 45, 1930 p. 1 seqq. and especially pi. 4. Arch. Anz. 1935 p. 322 seqq.).