The so-called ‘Sardanapalus’

Abstract

The torso of this type published by Arndt in 1893 was found at Athens in the Theatre of Dionysos in 1865 and put into the magazine of the National Museum. In the register of the Acropolis Museum shortly after 1891 is entered the fragment of a bearded head, consisting of the front upper part to the lips, again found on the South Slope, which was placed in the Acropolis Museum magazine. To this in 1918 Dr. Keramopoullos joined the lower part of the beard, which had also been among the fragments there. At the end of 1920 I was fortunate enough to notice the connexion between the torso of the National Museum and the head of the Acropolis Museum. The touching surface leaves no doubt that they originally formed part of the same statue, and the combination (unrestored except for plaster in the irregular joins of head with beard and beard with body) appears to represent a straightforward copy of about the beginning of the first century B.C. (Pl. III.). That, though accurate in essentials, it was not highly finished, may be seen by examining the line where the hair leaves the side of the forehead, the ends of the curls on the chiton, and the summary, but confident, treatment of material both in chiton and himation: yet the work can at once be seen to be softer, fresher, and more valuable stylistically than the conventional herms of Naples, Palermo, and the Uffizi.