Commentary Prepared by Dr. Julia Lenaghan, Ashmolean Museum

C 150
Head of Antisthenes. Vatican

Hadrianic or early Antonine portrait head of the philosopher Antisthenes (ca. 450-370 BC), founding father to both the Cynics and Stoics. Based on a model possibly of the Hellenistic period by the sculptor Phryomachos. From Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli.

Marble
Head
37 cm

From Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli. The head is securely recorded in the collection of Count G. Fede in 1750. Fede owned and built his Casino on the northern part of Hadrian’s villa (the theater, “palestra”, nymphaeum). He excavated in 1735. At his death in 1777 the head was sold by Count Centini to the Vatican’s Museo Clementino.
Italy, Vatican, Galleria Geografica, 2888
Hadrianic or early Antonine version of an early second century BC portrait

Preservation:
The herm burst, the tip of the nose, and the lock over the right side of the brow are restorations. The ends of some locks, especially those at the neck, are damaged.

Description:
The head depicts an old man with full flowing hair and a long pointed beard. The intensely wrinkled brow and the mane of hair create a remarkable sense of energy. The tall brow slopes gently backward toward the hairline. It is traversed by deep horizontal creases and is markedly knotted over the nose. There vertical lines of contraction rise and wrinkles following the path of the eyebrows originate. The eyebrows flare pronouncedly; they reach their highest point over the outer corners of the eyes and then drop sharply downwards. The eyes are small, deep-set, and have a heavy upper lid. The upper line of the upper lid is a deeply defined arching groove. The lower lid is almost horizontal. At the outer corners of the eyes are small wrinkles. The skull indents at the temples and then fills out at the cheekbones. The widest point of the face is between the cheek bones. The nose has two deep horizontal folds across its base and then begins to jut outwards. The naso-labial folds are deep and the skin above them bulges out. The moustache and beard are so heavy that the lips are almost entirely concealed; a portion of the lower lip is just visible. The undercutting of the moustache, however, gives the viewer a sense of the mouth. The beard is vaguely triangular in shape and continues well below the chin. It grows even on the cheeks. It is rendered in overlapping locks of hair of varying lengths; the locks are defined carefully by engraved lines. The hair on the head springs upwards at the centre of the brow. Even at the temples the hair jumps away from the hair line. It is pushed backwards at the left side of the head and falls more forward or downward on the right side of the head. It falls downwards in layers at the back of the head. The locks mainly cover the ears. They are rendered like the hair in the beard with the exception that some of the locks around the ears and face have been carefully drilled away from each other and the head. This gives them more volume and spring.

Discussion:
The portrait head in the Galleria Geografica in the Vatican represents the philosopher Antisthenes (ca. 450-370 BC). Antisthenes was a student of Socrates and the teacher of the cynic Diogenes. Known for his tough moral severity and independent thinking, he was revered as a founding father of both stoicism and cynicism. The portrait type, showing an energetic old man with a long beard and a glorious mane of hair, is known in a total of about ten Roman period versions. One of these, found in 1772 at Hadrian’s Villa in Tivoli and now in the Vatican Sala delle Muse, bears an ancient inscription on its herm bust that decisively identifies the portrait type as Antisthenes. The head in the Galleria Geografica, also from Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli, is considered by some scholars to be the best, most faithful to the original, of the extant Roman copies of the type. Certainly it appears to give the best sense of the hair and its movement. Since it was found in Hadrian’s Villa and bears technical similarities to portraits of Antinoos, the Galleria Geografica head has been dated to the Hadrianic or early Antonine period. The location and pose of the original statue on which these Roman versions are based remain unknown. Five of the Roman copies show a himation around the neck and at least one shows a turn to the left and an extended and raised shoulder. In addition, the forward movement of the neck may indicate that the original model was seated. A seated statuette found in Pompeii may bear a caricature of the Antisthenes portrait. Yet, it should not be considered to provide reliable information about the original statue since it belongs to a genre of caricatures that employ a standard seated pose. The date of the original statue is controversial, though the sculptor’s name is now known. In 1965 during a cleaning near the Temple of Hercules at Ostia a base (published 1969), reused in an Augustan context, came to light. It bore three statues and a tripartite Greek inscription naming the objects (a writer named Plato of whom no extant works but whose fame is preserved in literature, a Charis, and Antisthenes) and their respective sculptors (an unknown Lysikles, the famous Phradmon of Argos, and Phyromachos). Thus, it is highly probable that the sculptor of the model for the Antisthenes portrait reproduced in ten Roman period versions was Phyromachos. There are about ten references to an artisan of this name in the epigraphic and literary record. Scholars, examining these references, have established the existence of at least three different Phyromachoi of three different chronological periods: a Phyromachos of the fourth century who worked on the Erectheion, a Phryomachos whose floruit or death Pliny places between 296-292 BC, a Phyromachos who worked between the end of the third and early second century BC and was responsible for a cult statue of Asklepios in Pergamon. The date of the original model, thus, falls back on stylistic analysis; some scholars place the model in the fourth century and others in the late third or early second. Recently N. Himmelman has argued that it must be fourth century and B. Andreae that not only is it early second century but that he actually recognizes the same hand, that of Phyromachos, in a giant from the Small Attalid monument and in a head of Asklepios. Whereas many scholars are dubious of Andreae’s assertions, most, however, accept a stylistic date for the original model of the late third to early second century BC. Recently von den Hoff and Zanker have attempted to interpret the meaning of the dynamic portrait. The portrait typologically (old, long-haired, full-bearded man) is similar to representations of venerable men on fourth century grave reliefs. Yet it adds three elements, the leontine hair, the raised and contracted brow, and the triangular beard, to the standard representation of old men. According to von den Hoff the hair and the anastole (only possible after the pathos-filled images of Alexander) denote energy and wildness; they are often used in portrayals of satyrs and giants in the Hellenistic period. Similarly the raised and knotted brow appears in portrayals of centaurs and other wild creatures. These qualities would be in keeping with Antisthenes’ strong, fierce, independent, and super-human mind and character. According to Zanker the hair and wildness may also make reference to the fact that Antisthenes’ mother was from the uncultivated barbaric area of Thrace. Von den Hoff sees the beard and its particular pointed shape as a deliberate allusion to the first portrait type of Socrates (see cat. no. C 145). For Zanker, the shape of the beard is merely part of the early second century BC vision of what a philosopher should wear. Von den Hoff and subsequently Zanker both stress that the image was created without an intended connection to cynism and that it is conceptually related to the image of Socrates. J. Lenaghan

Bibliography:
G.M.A. Richter, Portraits of the Greeks II (London 1965) 179-181, especially 180, no.2, figs. 1040-1042 catalogue entry and discussion of the portraits of Antisthenes
B. Andreae, "Antisthenes philosophos Phyromachos epoiei" Eikones. Studien zum griechischen und römischen Bildnis. Hans Jucker zum sechzigsten Geburtstag (Bern 1980) 40-48, pls. 12.1 and 13.1 and 5 uses Ostia inscription to associate portrait type with sculptor Phyromachos who in turn he associates with the Small Attalid monument
J. Raeder, Die statuarische Ausstattung der Villa Hadriana bei Tivoli (Frankfurt 1983) 11-12, 112, no. I 133 notes on history of find and catalogue entry
P. Baldassari, "L'Opera grafica di Agostino Penna sulla Villa Adriana" (RIA 11 1988) 46-47, no. 17a, figs. 36-37 catalogue entry and nineteenth century evaluation of the object
N. Himmelmann, "Antisthenes" Phyromachos-Probleme (Mainz 1990) 13-23, pls. 4-5 rejects Hellenistic date, asserts fourth century date, explores the identity of Phyromachos
B. Andreae, Laokoon und die Kunst von Pergamon (Frankfurt 1991) 35-41, 52, fig.30 reasserts previous conclusion, identifies three works by Phyromachos, moves his date for Antisthenes back to ca. 200 BC
R. von den Hoff, Philosophenporträts des Früh-und Hochhellenismus (Munich 1994) 136-137, no. 3, 140-150 complete discussion of the portrait type and extant replicas with summary of scholarly opinions and full bibliography
P. Zanker, The Mask of Socrates (Berkeley 1995) 174-176 interpretation of the Antisthenes portrait and Hellenistic date, with minor emendations of von den Hoff’s discussion