.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
It has been suggested that this impressive head may represent the Antigonid king Demetrios I Poliorcetes, or Demetrios 'the Besieger of Cities' (337-283 B.C.). A Successor to Alexander the Great, Demetrios' father Antigonos had inherited Asia Minor in the break-up of Alexander's empire following his death in 323 B.C.; once king himself, Demetrios launched successful campaigns against the Ptolemies and Seleucids, also Successors to Alexander, to expand his control into Greece and Macedonia. Amid the turmoil and dynastic rivalry in the period that followed Alexander's death, Demetrios acquired a reputation for bellicosity, and also for tactical ingenuity, purportedly devising a wheeled seige tower named 'Helepolis', which stood over 125 feet tall, to aid his attack on Rhodes in 305 B.C.
Demetrios' portrait iconography drew heavily on that of Alexander the Great in a bid to validate and strengthen his claim to Alexander's empire and power. The flowing, leonine hair with anastole, the deep set eyes and furrowed brow all directly reference Alexander's famous portrait-type and imbue the head with a sense of fierce grandure, allying the king visually with his predecessor, whilst also suggesting his own formidable reputation as a besieger of cities. Demetrios is also often portrayed with the horns of a bull, an animal sacred to his patron deity, Poseidon. Cf. a silver tetradrachm in New York (Metropolitan Museum of Art, 67.265.30) and a marble portrait bust from the Villa dei Papiri in Herculaneum now in the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli (cf. M. Bieber, The Sculpture of the Hellenistic Age, New York, 1955, figs 145 and 146).
Demetrios' portrait iconography drew heavily on that of Alexander the Great in a bid to validate and strengthen his claim to Alexander's empire and power. The flowing, leonine hair with anastole, the deep set eyes and furrowed brow all directly reference Alexander's famous portrait-type and imbue the head with a sense of fierce grandure, allying the king visually with his predecessor, whilst also suggesting his own formidable reputation as a besieger of cities. Demetrios is also often portrayed with the horns of a bull, an animal sacred to his patron deity, Poseidon. Cf. a silver tetradrachm in New York (Metropolitan Museum of Art, 67.265.30) and a marble portrait bust from the Villa dei Papiri in Herculaneum now in the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli (cf. M. Bieber, The Sculpture of the Hellenistic Age, New York, 1955, figs 145 and 146).