Portrait head of a «kosmetes»

Provenance: Athens, «Diogeneion». Height: 0.34 m. Marble: Pentelic.
Chronology: 220-235 AD. EAM 395

The portrait depicts a man at an advanced age, bearded and bald. He would wear a himation. Both the arrangement of the curly hair at the sides and the shape of the face refer to portraits of Caracalla’s successors. It recalls, however, the «Naplestype portrait» of the orator Aeschines. The swollen ears indicate his athletic past as a wrestler.