Marble Head of Antinoos in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, July 2007

Marble portrait head of Antinoos
Roman, late Hadrianic period, 130-138 AD

Accession # 1996.401

Antinoos, the young beloved of the Roman emperor Hadrian, drowned in the River Nile during an imperial visit to Egypt in AD 130. In accordance with Egyptian custom, the distraught emperor initiated a cult venerating the dead youth, for the Egyptians believed that those who met such a death became assimilated to Osiris, god of the Underworld.

Outside of Egypt, numerous statues of Antinoos were erected that represented him as a beautiful youth, often in the guise of Dionysos, a Greek god closely related to Osiris. This head is a good example of the sophisticated portrait type created by imperial sculptors to incorporate what must have been actual features of the boy in an idealized image that conveys a god-like beauty. The ovoid face with a straight brow, almond-shaped eyes, smooth cheeks, and fleshy lips is surrounded by abundant tousled curls. The ivy wreath encircling his head associates him with Dionysos, a guarantor of renewal and good fortune.

Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.