Portrait of a Helmeted Man in the Princeton University Art Museum, August 2009

Portrait of a Helmeted Man
Roman, probably Julio-Claudian, ca. 27 BC-AD 68
Marble

# Y1962-132

This bearded man wears a helmet pushed up on his head, the back of which is broken away, leaving only the face and the lower part of the helmet. The head was long identified as a portrait of Perikles, who died in 428 BC., because it resembles Roman copies of a lost portrait of the Athenian general and statesman. Although Roman in date, however, the current opinion is that it is based on an unknown Greek work of the first half of the 5th century BC. The original statue may have represented a mythical hero, or even a historical figure who had been heroized.

Text from the Princeton University Art Museum label.