CIRCA 2ND CENTURY A.D.

This imposing and finely-sculpted head depicts the god Bacchus wearing a wreath, with long thick beard and long wavy hair pulled back with the typical features of what is often described as 'Archaising' or 'Classicistic' style. The 'classicistic' style was incredibly popular throughout the Roman Empire, already starting from the 1st Century B.C., when sculptors starting looking back with nostalgia at the Greek Classical style of the 5th Century B.C. and started copying famous statues, with different degrees of adaptation.
Many examples of bearded gods in the Classicistic style were created by Roman copyists for decorative purposes and it is sometimes difficult to identify them with precision, whether they represent Bacchus, Zeus or Mercury, see LIMC, vol. III, 'Dionysos', p. 442-443, nos. 184-186 for examples similar to this head which have been tentatively attributed to Bacchus.