Portrait of Demosthenes​                       

Geographic: Roman

Demosthenes, was a prominent fourth-century B.C. orator and outspoken opponent of Macedonian control over Athens. He committed suicide to avoid capture and execution. Decades later, the Athenians commissioned Polyeuktos to create an honorific bronze statue of the orator to stand in the Agora.
Though the statue is lost, copies of the head in the Roman period survived. Demosthenes's expressed worry over the future of Athens. It is recognized as one of the first portraits to reflect the subject’s psychological condition.

Portrait of Julia Domna  

Geographic: Roman

She was the wife of the emperor Septimius Severus and the mother of co-emperors Caracalla and Geta. Julia Domna is shown here wearing an impressively elaborate hairstyle, but the pieces of her own hair coming out near the ears reveal that she is wearing a wig. She used this hairstyle for the rest of her life. The empress was born in Syria and was a patron of the arts. Her prominence was a manifestation of the increasing importance of the Roman provinces. 

Portrait of a Ptolemaic Queen, probably Arsinoe III

Geographic: Egyptian, Greek

This non-life-size marble head represents a female member of the Ptolemaic dynasty, rulers of Egypt from the death of Alexander in 323 B.C. through the suicide of Cleopatra in 30 B.C. This portrait is highly idealized, with softly modeled and rather generic facial features. The loss of much of the coiffure, which in antiquity would have been completed in stucco and attached to the marble head, which creates further difficulties in identifying the portrait’s historical subject. The favorite candidate among scholars is Arsinoe III, who served as queen alongside her husband (who was also her brother), Ptolemy IV, from 217 to 205 B.C. This was a tumultuous period in the history of Hellenistic Egypt; both king and queen were murdered during a palace coup.

Portrait of a Lady

Geographic: Roman

During imperial times upper-class Roman women had far more freedom than did their counterparts in classical Athens. The women were allowed to participate in society, dine with their husbands, and attend parties, games, and shows along with political gatherings. This portrait is rare and life-sized. Found together but not attached as a single unit, the head and shoulders, which were probably paired in antiquity, each reflect a different quality of workmanship. While the bust and shoulders are treated summarily, the head is sensitively modeled and the hair very detailed in carefully combed waves. The woman's heavy-lidded gaze betrays a contemplative personality as distant as the emperors themselves.

Head of a Man

Geographic: Roman

During the reign of the Tetrarchs during A.D. 284-312, rule over the Roman Empire was divided among four men, each responsible for different regions. Most of the surviving portraits of them are carved in porphyry, a hard, dark stone that is difficult to work with requiring quite the craftsmanship. The resulting sculptures were often blocklike in style, far removed from physical likeness. However, this portrait is thought to represent Diocletian, one of the Tetrarchs, who ruled the region from Thrace to Egypt. He ruled for more than twenty years before he passed away in A.D. 305. This impressive piece was carved in basalt and shows distinctive features characteristic of the emperor with furrowed brows, lined forehead, enlarged eyes conveying tension and concern. The downward curve of the mouth suggests a tough and resolute man whose advancing age is apparent in his sunken cheeks.

Head of a Female Votive Figure

Geographic: Greek

This monumental head was originally painted and belonged to an over-life-size statue of a votive figure or deity from Cyprus. The exact function of the figure is unknown however it was probably in a sanctuary. The amalgam of styles evident here reflects the tumultuous history of Cyprus during the first millennium B.C. The sensitively modeled oval face with oval eyes with points on each side, high cheekbones, and smile. These features indicate an affinity with art from eastern Greece in the Archaic period. On the headdress a throng of maenads and silent, the feathered brows and the treatment of elaborately curled and patterned tresses suggest Assyrian influence.