Marble Head Possibly of Empress Flaccilla in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, August 2007

Marble Head, Possibly of Empress Flaccilla
Byzantine
Carved about 380-390 AD

Accession # 47.100.51

The hairstyle and facial features are those of Aelia Flaccilla, wife of Theodosius I, who about 382 was the first woman officially to be crowned empress since Constantine the Great's mother and his wife far earlier in the century. Flaccilla was described at her death in 387 as "this ornament of the Empire, this zeal for the faith, this pillar of the church." During her husband's reign, Christianity was established as the official religion of the state.

Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.