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Some Hellenistic Portraits

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2013

Guy Dickins
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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.

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

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References

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

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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.