Helmeted Head, probably Seleucus I Nicator
Unknown · 1st to 2nd century AD (Roman copy)
A small head, little more than life size, wears a close fitting helmet and stares ahead with the mouth slightly open, as if caught in the middle of a breath. The features are strong and rather heavy, with a firm jaw, and they resemble the coin portraits of Seleucus I Nicator, the general who took the largest share of Alexander's empire and founded a kingdom stretching from Syria to the frontiers of India. The nose is lost and the break has been smoothed. The top of the skull was probably completed with a separate piece, and the marble is of ordinary quality, so the head was likely made for a modest setting, a house or a small shrine.
The identification remains a question mark in the museum's records, but the find spot supports it: the head was discovered at Beirut, or perhaps Antioch, in the heart of the Seleucid lands, where the founder of the dynasty, called Nicator, the Victor, was still honoured under Roman rule. It was carved in the first or second century AD, some three centuries after his death, and the Louvre bought it in 1965.
Did You Know? Seleucus was said to have an anchor shaped birthmark on his thigh, a sign that he was really the son of Apollo.
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