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Presumed Portrait of Antiochus III the Great
Unknown · Augustan period, c. 25 BC to 25 AD (Roman copy)
A lean, hard face with a long nose, a tight mouth and short hair pushed back from the forehead beneath a twisted band, the strophion that Hellenistic kings wore in place of a crown. The eyes are set deep under a heavy brow, and the neck turns sharply, giving the head a watchful, impatient air. The marble is from Carrara, the Italian quarry that Augustus made fashionable, so the head was carved in Italy in the years around the birth of Christ. The tip of the nose and parts of the ears are restorations, and a plug at the neck shows that the head was fixed to a bust or statue.
The comparison with coins suggests Antiochus III, called the Great, who ruled the Seleucid empire from 223 to 187 BC, marched as far as India, and was then crushed by Rome at Magnesia. A Roman of the Augustan age may have wanted him for a gallery of famous men, or as a worthy enemy. The identification remains open, but the head is among the finest Roman copies of a Hellenistic royal portrait. It belongs to the Louvre's old holdings, recorded as arriving in 1872.
Did You Know? Antiochus took the title the Great after marching to India, and was then beaten by Rome; this Roman head may be a trophy portrait of a defeated king.
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